Nuts and Bolts
by Shibby-and-Gimp
Summary: Reposted: Dr. Light is busy, Rock is lonely, Forte is....Forte. No good can come of this. Chapter Nine: The End. And what happened after.
1. Chapter One

Nuts and Bolts  
  
Author's Notes: This is a collaboration fic written by Muselet and Gimp666. Obviously yaoi to come, multiple pairings. Author's notes written by Muselet because my compatriot is too lazy to do any of her own.  
  
Uh...I have nothing to say at this moment in time. Maybe I'll make a comment later, when something actually starts to happen in this fic. This is ALL setup for the plot. ^^;;; *points* Try to enjoy.  
  
-------------------------  
  
Rock wandered slowly down the street, hands in his pockets. It was three in the morning, and he couldn't sleep. Looking up at the flashing signs proclaiming such things as "Young hot girls will dance for you!!" and "XXX LIVE NUDE SHOW!!" he wondered what he was doing in such places at this time of the night. It was like asking for trouble. If Dr. Light knew where Rock was right now, he'd..... He'd.... Keep ignoring him, as the doctor had been doing lately. Turning the corner, Rock entered a dark foreboding alleyway, which stretched through to another dingy street parallel to the first. Might as well circle the block, nothing much going on.  
  
"Hey, do you have any money?" A voice cut into his thoughts suddenly, and he turned to see a tall thin man in shabby clothing. One good look at him and Rock knew he was dealing with the same junkie as the past few nights, when he had been down here. A very foreign thought entered his mind, and he decided if he'd known what humans were really like, he'd never have agreed to let Dr. Light turn him into a fighting machine to save them. It wasn't as though they appreciated his sacrifice anyway.  
  
"What do you want it for?" He asked, skeptically. The last three nights when he'd been asked, the guy backed down at this line of questioning. He had money, of course, he wasn't that stupid. The last thing he needed was to be stranded in a place like this without cash. "I'm not buying your drugs." He muttered when the man hadn't answered. He managed three more steps before another man stepped in front of him, stopping him dead. This threw Rock off. The man had never had a friend with him before.  
  
"We just want some food." He smelled.... Bad. Rock wasn't sure what half those smells were, but the ones he recognized disgusted him. He backed up a few steps, then shot past him quickly, turning off the alley without looking behind him. He heard the sound of their footsteps as they followed him but kept running, knowing they couldn't keep up with him. He could run tirelessly until his energy supply ran out, if necessary, though he doubted they'd make it another half a block. Sure enough, the sounds of their feet died away. He stopped finally, looking behind him quickly, and breathed heavily as his systems worked to cool his circuit boards down.  
  
He looked down the street, and saw that the men were in pursuit of him again. Damn, they were relentless. He could keep running, but why bother? With a small sigh, he opened the door to the store he was in front of, and went it. He walked inside, head down, and tried to block out the loud noise blaring from speakers. He was probably in some kind of a bar, but judging by the cheers and cat calls, he didn't want to know. Keeping his head low, he passed by stools and tables, ignoring the whispering and occasional demand to know why he was in a place like 'this' at his age. Typical.  
  
He kept right on going. He wasn't doing any harm, and didn't want to head outside again, in case those two losers were still out there. This.... Really sucked. When had he turned into this bitter, miserable- He ran into someone so hard he was almost knocked off his feet.  
  
"Will you fucking watch where you're going?!" Someone exclaimed angrily, and his head shot up quickly. He knew that voice!!  
  
"I'm sorry!" Rock blurted, staring horrified into the irritated face of Forte. "I...I didn't mean to do that!"  
  
Grumbling, Forte shrugged, then looked at Rock strangely. "What the hell are you doing here?" He waved an arm around the place, gesturing specifically at a pair of men who were doing something in a corner that Rock didn't recognize... and then he waved somewhere else, and Rock noticed the stages, the bare male bodies writhing with each other, gleaming in the low light. He stared, wide eyed, until Forte pulled his head over to look at him again. "Well, well. Dr. Light makes a little gay robot. What a pedophile." he grinned. "Couldn't get any fun somewhere else, could you, you pervert."  
  
"....then what were you doing here?" Rock blinked innocently at his enemy, rather confused. He made it sound like this place was a bad thing, and while it was weird here Rock didn't see anything wrong with it. ....What did 'gay' mean, anyway? Surprisingly, Forte didn't yell at him or attack. His face just turned bright red, and he muttered something rude under his breath.  
  
"That's beside the point." Forte finally got out. "The point is you shouldn't be here." He stared at the unmoving boy before him. "Don't you want to leave?"  
  
Rock considered that, looking around at the people....a man on one of the stages winked at him and blew a kiss. That was nice of him. "People seem friendly here." He looked at Forte again. "And I have nobody to talk to, except you." His face brightened, with a large smile. "Can I stay with you tonight?" He blinked, confused, as a bunch of people at a table nearby whistled at him and Forte, and noticed how his companion had turned very, very red.  
  
"Of course you can't!" Forte growled deeply, leaning in so no one else could hear them. "Have you forgotten who I am, or who you are? What we are?" Rock's expression saddened, and he found himself staring at the ground again, the floor was filthy. "Besides, I wouldn't hang around with you, if you were the-"  
  
"I don't care." Rock announced suddenly, looking back up at him hopefully. "I.... I don't care who or what we are. I'm so lonely.. Please let me stay with you tonight. I won't cause any trouble, or... Or..." He could tell he was slowly winning the battle, and urged on. "Please? I know we're enemies, but can't we just put all that aside, just this once?" Forte walked back over to his table dismissively, and he followed him, inviting himself to a seat across from him.  
  
"Why are you here?" Forte asked, his voice filled with irritation. Why was Rock still following him? He'd already told him no. With the hot water he was in with Wily these days, the last thing he needed was to be seen with Rock. In public. In a place like this! "Go away."  
  
"But..... " Rock stammered, eyes beginning to fill with tears. Why wouldn't Forte hang around with him? They were both same, both robots, and he was terribly hungry for company. Forte had to feel the same. Rock couldn't see him getting along too well with the Wily's other 'bots. "I just wanted to-"  
  
"Fuck. Off." Forte growled, staring at the men on stage and trying to ignore Rock as best he could. Suddenly he heard a loud thud, followed by muffled sobs, and turned his gaze. Fuck, wonderful. The little bastard had dropped his head onto the table and was sobbing now, arms wrapped around his head so no one could see him crying.  
  
"I... I c-can't stand it anymore..." Rock sobbed brokenly, unmoving. "I'm s- so lonely... Dad won't talk to me, Roll doesn't understand. Rush can't speak, and Blues...." He gripped onto the sleeves of his shirt tightly at the thought of his brother. He really loved his brother, but he hardly came home to see him these days. "... I haven't seen him in four months!"  
  
He let out a small wail as he continued to air his dirty laundry in the middle of the strip club, and Forte felt his face grow hot, cheeks reddening. People were staring. Staring was not something Forte wanted. Staring meant paying attention to him. Paying attention meant possibly being recognized. If he, Forte, was recognized, he would be in serious trouble. Not to mention if a robot master happened to be in the bar. Fuck, he knew a lot of the robot masters hung out here quite frequently. Shit, he had to do something, and fast!  
  
"Uh...." He got up and walked to the weeping boy, grabbed him, pulled the boy close, holding to Rock's collar as he hissed. "You have to keep it down! People are staring!" And so they were. Lots of them, some muttering amongst themselves. Shit, this didn't look good. Rock whimpered something quietly, under his breath. "Oh for the love of-" Forte thought of something, anything he could do to explain this all away to the watchers. What to do, what to do. He let go of Rock's shirt, patting him gently on the back. "Er. There, there. It's...okay?" Rock instantly was clinging to him tightly, nearly crushing him. This didn't look good either...but the people were looking away, a couple of them nodding approvingly at what really was a cute little scene.  
  
Rock sobbed quietly into Forte's shirt. He would probably pay for this later, but right now he didn't care. Someone was paying attention to him, even if it was Forte, and he would take advantage of that as much as possible. "'m sorry." The words were muffled in Forte's shirt.  
  
Meanwhile, Forte was carefully leading Rock towards the door of the strip club, hoping he could pry Rock off him, shove the boy out the door, and have it all done with. "Right, right," he glanced around, hoping nobody would suddenly decide they wanted a threesome with the supposed 'couple'. Urgh, they were humans for chrissake, and while you could look, touching wasn't an attractive option. He couldn't decide what was worse; having random humans hit on him when he was alone or having people think he was taking Rock home for a night of sex. "Would you let go of me already?"  
  
Rock slowly detached himself from Forte's warm chest. "Sorry," He murmured again, still clinging to Forte's arm absentmindedly. "Where are we going?"  
  
Forte stared at him incredulously. "'We'?!' There is no 'we'!! YOU are going to leave, before someone finds out I was even talking to you, let alone at a place like this!" He threw his arm out in the direction of the club's sign, which read 'Twinks!', then gave Rock a small shove. "Will you go away already?" He turned to leave, then hesitated, standing in the doorway, and glared down at Rock. His enemy had slid down the side of the wall, and was now sitting on the pavement in front of the place, crying very softly, arms wrapped around his legs.  
  
"I.... I'm sorry.." He whimpered. "I thought.... I thought...." Rock tried to explain to Forte that he'd thought he had found someone to talk to, but the words wouldn't come out. Instead, more hot tears ran down his cheeks, only to be cooled by the bitter cold breeze tossing his hair about. He knew Forte hated him and was a brutal, selfish person, he shouldn't have expected any kindness from the wily bot, but he had been hoping desperately that just this once... He heard the slight scraping of material against brick as Forte slid down, and sat next to him, carefully avoiding a pool of vomit.  
  
"So.... You're depressed. What am I supposed to do about that?" He mumbled miserably. WHY was he doing this? When Rock didn't respond, he kept talking. "What's the big deal, if you're lonely? Most people would kill to be left alone once in awhile." Still silence, but the sobs had stopped, and he could tell Rock was listening. "You're just wasting your time, if you think I'm going to be some kind of a help to you, I have nothing to tell you, I don't have stupid problems like yours. You need to get a life, and move on."  
  
Damn, being sensitive was hard, and Forte only hoped he was doing a good job of it. It didn't help that Rock was being so fucking unresponsive. "Hey... I'm talking to you." He growled lightly, then tried to lean far away, as Rock's head suddenly hit his shoulder. Shit. He'd fallen asleep.  
  
Forte looked around desperately, as if for a means of escaping this horrible fate. As much as he'd love to just leave Rock there, he knew the boy would be raped or mugged within moments, and torturing the boy was his job, and his alone. Humans were unworthy of even touching one of his kind, and he'd never abandon a bioroid to such a horrible fate. It was bad enough having to look at stupid humans day in and day out.  
  
This left him very little options, and he sighed in disbelief of what he knew he was going to do.  
  
He grabbed Rock carefully, lifting the boy and holding him with one arm under Rock's neck and the other supporting his legs. This was so undignified, walking through these streets carrying his worst enemy. But he really didn't have another choice. Slowly, watching out for possible danger, he carried Rock through the streets, walking towards Dr. Light's lab.  
  
"I hate you, I hate you, I wish you would die. I hate you so very, very much." Forte looked down at Rock's unresponsive, sleeping body. He didn't seem to notice any of the things Forte was saying, but it was cathartic to say them anyway. "I don't see how you could just fall asleep like that. In the middle of a terrible part of town, with your worst enemy, and you fucking fall asleep. What the hell were you thinking?" He gave Rock a little shake, but there was no response. "Great. Well, we're at your place, and knowing the people there I'll probably get killed for this, and-" He stopped, staring at the large house. "What the hell. Not like life's that great anyway."  
  
He ended up at the front door, still holding Rock in his arms and wondering what he was going to do now. Maybe he should have thought this out a little more. Slowly, he shifted Rock so that he was carrying him over his shoulder, stretching his now-free arm and reaching for the door...and stopped, as something made a suspicious noise inside. Crap. It would probably be a bad idea to go in...so now what?  
  
Forte shifted Rock in his arms uncomfortably. Shit, this was all the brat's fault, and now he was asleep and completely useless to him! He could leave Rock on the porch, he doubted anything would happen to the kid if he just left him there, but it was cold out. He could knock on the door and run, but there was chance in being caught there. Slowly, he touched the doorknob hesitantly. He had no other choice, he had to go in there, and hope for the best.  
  
Turning the knob slowly, he paused, listening for any more suspicious sounds. Nothing. Pushing the door open, he made his first steps into the house. The entire house was dark, the inhabitants long since in bed. Perfect. He'd just drop Rock down on the couch, and be on his way. Looking around, however, he saw no couches, chairs, or anything he could place the kid down on. Slipping his shoes off, not wanting to be heard, he walked slowly through an office and into a hall, looking for somewhere, anywhere he could put Rock. Why did it have to be so damned dark? Halfway down the hall, he passed a lit doorway, and risked a peek inside, curiosity winning over caution, and he was met with the sight of Dr. Light's back.  
  
Good god, what was the man doing up at this time of night? He had to be like 150 years old or something, he was so ancient and wrinkly. yet there he was, wide awake in the wee hours of the morning, scribbling something down with a pen. The man never slept. Then, he was struck with a memory of Rock, face down on the table, sobbing and carrying on about how the man was too busy to keep him company, and he frowned slightly.  
  
Passing through the doorway quietly, he continued down the hall, trying doors and peeking in quietly. What the hell did they need three bathrooms for? It wasn't as thought Light's 'kids' were going to use them. This was putting a serious damper on his night! Finally, he opened a room at the end of the hall, and his eyes made out an empty bed. Turning the light on, he knew instantly he was in the right room.  
  
It looked like the room of a ten year old. Clothes were thrown askew, video games laid out along with movies and small toys like little land mines for those passing through. Christ, Rock had so much... SHIT! And he was a messy little bugger, something which surprised him. Stepping around the traps laid out on the floor, he made his way toward Rock's child sized bed, eager to rid himself of the hefty weight in his arms.  
  
He nearly tripped over something or another at least ten times, but finally reached the bed, flopping down on it with Rock and sighing. This was a hellish night. He pulled away, stopping when Rock clung to him and whimpered. Christ. The kid had to be really lonely to be holding on in his damn sleep. Forte hesitated. He was tired. Wily wasn't expecting him back for a long while, days even. Being in Dr. Light's place meant finding shit that could impress the crazy old man, maybe some data or information that would get Wily off Forte's back for a while.  
  
Sighing, he slumped back down on the bed next to Rock and lay there, ignoring the boy as he wrapped his body around Forte's, mumbling incoherently. "I hate you, Rock." Forte muttered, drifting off to a shallow sleep.  
  
-------------------------------  
  
Ending Author's Notes: Muselet: Plot is forthcoming, I swear. And this is rated R for a reason, and sadly that reason is mostly cursing and future violence. ..Yeah. I'm going to go beat myself in the head with a frying pan now.  
  
Gimp666: ..you know you like it. *pokes*  
  
Reviews are nice! 


	2. Chapter Two

Nuts and Bolts Chapter Two  
  
------------------------------------  
  
Later that morning, Forte was up, moving around Rock's room and pacing violently, wondering what the hell to do now. He had seen Rush walking the hallways just a few minutes before, and a fight would attract attention that he didn't need. If he was going to find anything he had to be stealthy; he didn't want Rock deciding that he needed to be chased off, or worse yet for Blues to show up and join in if it happened.  
  
"Forte?" Oh, crap. He turned around, seeing Rock blearily rubbing at his eyes, looking at him with a surprised expression. "You stayed." A wide smile spread across Rock's face. He wasn't alone. Someone had stayed, and while he had to often fight Forte, who cursed at him and teased him and said he wanted to kill him, he'd still spent the night with Rock. Happily, the boy walked over and pulled his newfound companion into a tight embrace.  
  
"I hate you, Rock." Forte pried his enemy off, shoving the boy roughly away. "Go the hell away, I'm thinking." Damnit, he wished Rock would stop smiling. He looked content, almost pleased, and that was something Forte really hated. Rock was supposed to be hurt by what he was saying! Crushed, even, if the lonely state the boy was in meant anything! When had he gained this impervious attitude towards hate?  
  
Rock sat down on the edge of his bed, watching Forte curiously. He wondered what Forte was doing. Why didn't he just climb out the window if he didn't want to be seen? He couldn't remember feeling this good in a long time, and he wished he wouldn't leave. "Roll probably has breakfast ready. I'll bring you some, if you'll stay here a little longer."  
  
Forte growled lowly, slowly losing patience with the boy. FUCK. Now he was bribing him! He stayed pressed against the wall, out of sight if anyone wandered into the room. Thankfully, no one had decided to stroll in yet. "Quiet!" He hissed, running a hand through his hair. Rock was going to ruin this for him, he knew it. "If someone comes in...."  
  
Rock's face fell, and he shuffled further back on his bed, nestling a pillow under his chin. "No one's going to come in. No one ever comes in. The only person who ever comes in my room is Blues, and he hasn't-"  
  
"Yeah, yeah, been missing for four months, so I've heard." Forte was thankful for that a thousand times over. He could hear the general ruckus of the Light household, and knew he'd never be able to take anything while it was like this. Well, this was great. He was stuck in the bedroom his adversary, who refused to treat him as such, with no way of getting what he needed. He stared hard at Rock.... And slowly a rather devilish idea came about in his mind. "Rock." He murmured, sitting down next to him, and putting on his most sensitive, caring face. "You want to see me again, right? You know.. Hang out like tonight?"  
  
Rock looked up at him quickly, eyes wide, and shot him a very happy look. "Uh-huh..." He nodded slowly, as though mesmerized by Forte's words. "I'd love that." He felt like hugging Forte again, and the only thing which kept him from doing so was the fear of Forte getting annoyed with him and leaving.  
  
This was going to be like taking candy from a baby. "Well," He whispered smoothly, poking Rock's shoulder lightly. "I'll make you a small deal. I'm going back to that place again tonight, and I'd love to share my company with you, but I need you to do something for me, Rock." He forced himself to look distraught, and concerned. "See... I'm in a lot of trouble at home, right now." He half lied. Yes, he was in serious trouble back at the fortress, but since when was this new? "It would really help me if you could get something of Dr. Light's for me. Some information, or something. Anything would do."  
  
At this, Rock stiffened, and he shook his head vigorously. "No, Forte, anything but that! Please..." He whispered hoarsely. "Dad would never forgive me if I helped you steal something like that!" He wrung his hands nervously.  
  
"It wouldn't be stealing, I'd just borrow it, really. It's not like it's for Dr. Wily, anyway." Forte built on his web of lies quickly. "See.. We- The Robot Masters, that is, are tired of the way Wily uses and abuses us. He treats us horribly, and we just want the information to try and overthrow Wily." He leaned back, lying to Rock was easy. The kid believed any bullshit that rolled off his tongue, if the look in his eyes said anything. Fuck, was that admiration? Pfft, loser. "I promised them I'd have some information they could use to do just that awhile ago, but haven't been able to find anything. If you could do this for me... Wow, Rock, I'd be in your debt forever. We could finally free ourselves of that madman!"  
  
Rock considered this, worrying incredibly. Dr. Light wasn't paying attention to him anyway...it would be so easy to just take something and...no! He couldn't do that! But looking at Forte's concerned, nearly desperate face, and the reason.....and he wouldn't be lonely.... Rock was sincerely considering it. And if Dr. Light wouldn't pay attention to him when he acted nice and kind, he'd be forced to recognize Rock's existence if that suddenly changed. Even the horrible thought of his father's anger was better than just this...pretending he didn't exist. "I..." He couldn't get his assent out. It just felt so wrong....  
  
Forte watched Rock carefully, knowing the kid was on the very edge of agreeing. He sighed dramatically. "Well....if you don't want to help us that's understandable..." Rock's eyes widened incredibly, and he shook his head.  
  
"No, I- I'll do it!" He blurted, hands clenching into fists. "I can do it." He said, trying to make himself believe it. Forte grinned, inwardly congratulating himself on a persuasion well done. "I.....think I know what I can get you, too." Uh oh. That wasn't going well. Shit, if Rock got some useless information for him, he was screwed. The kid wasn't going to betray his father as easily a second time.  
  
"Well...Rock..." Forte smiled easily, slinging an arm over the boy's shoulder. "I think any information like...weapons, shielding, etceteras, that would work best. Something practical. New designs for robots, maybe?" Shit, if he could get that last one, Wily might shut up about his failures for a full week. Rock nodded slowly, taking in everything Forte said with wide, believing eyes.  
  
"I... I know exactly what to get you..." He practically whispered, as though afraid of his own words. "You can rely on me, Forte. I won't let you down." He wasn't joking, either. What he was doing, however... The risk if he were caught. Rock wasn't stupid, he knew he was playing with fire, and he knew what could go wrong. Dr. Light could find out about what happened, and instead of giving him a little attention, he could simply cast him away. Or worse, Forte could betray him... Something was seriously wrong with his story, but he wanted to- no, needed to believe him.  
  
Forte grabbed him around his shoulders, stared down at him with well hidden disdain, and hugged him lightly, rolling his eyes as Rock clung to him. "That'd be so great, Rock." Shit, the things he did for that useless old man. It was Wily's own fault he wasn't in control of the world. Typical human, full of error. "I have to go now, meet me at the bar tomorrow night if you can get the stuff."  
  
He finally managed to pull himself away from Rock's vice-like grip, and backed away toward the window quickly. "Thank you." He FORCED out of his lips, wanting to kick himself in the ass. Fuck, he hated those words almost as much as he hated Rock, who looked ready for another affectionate barrage. Opening the window quickly, he hopped out it and stared at him from a safe distance of three or so feet.  
  
-----------------------------  
  
"Okay... I'll bring everything tonight. Promise." Rock stared at Forte through the open window, forcing a small smile. He wished Forte would stay longer, but he could tell the wily bot was on edge, wanting to get the hell out of there. Understandable, considering what would happen if Dr. Light or Roll wandered in. Even worse, if Blues finally decided to make a visit. He knew Blues would go straight for Forte's throat, before Rock could do or say anything to defend him. Blues was viscously protective of Rock if he felt his brother was threatened or in serious trouble, and he had a deep set hatred for Forte to begin with.  
  
He opened his mouth to say goodbye to Forte, but his newfound friend was long gone, having slipped away at some point. "...... Bye." He huffed softly, then wandered back over to his bed and lay back. He had one shot to do this, and he had to do it right. He needed to make a copy of everything today, without being seen in order to hand it over to Forte. If he screwed up, and Dr. Light caught him, he knew he'd never get another chance. Heck, he didn't know what he'd do if that happened. His father would be furious with him, that much he was sure of.  
  
Nervously, Rock headed out of his room, nearly running into Rush as the dog paced the hallways. "Sorry, boy!" He chirped, petting Rush on the head gently. With a small woof, the dog gave Rock's hand a sniff and growled, smelling something unpleasant. "It's okay, boy. Nothing's wrong." Rock murmured quietly, giving Rush another pat and walking down the hall to Dr. Light's lab. The door was open, his father scribbling something on a notepad.  
  
".....Dr. Light?" He asked quietly, not really wanting to disturb his father if he was working on something important. "...did you get any sleep at all?" Rock started at the unmoving figure in the room, still except for that constant writing with that damned pen... There was no response. "....alright then. I'll...just go downstairs. Sorry for bothering you." He headed downstairs, Rush following him and whining. His father was busy, he had to remember that. There were more important things than being bothered by a little bioroid first thing in the morning. So why did it still hurt?  
  
Rock miserably walked into the kitchen, gave a mildly cheerful 'good morning' to his sister, and grabbed a plateful of food and ate it. Later that day he'd go into the lab, when his father was so exhausted he couldn't stay awake any more. It wouldn't be long now; the doctor had already been up for three straight days.  
  
-------------------------------  
  
Forte stared at the gyrating body of the male stripper and found himself entirely unmoved by it. He was bored, and anxious for Rock to get the hell over there with the information. Had the kid been caught? Damnit!  
  
Suddenly he heard a loud bang as the door hit the wall, opening full force. A few customers cursed and grumbled as a small figure ran past them, and suddenly Rock stood before him, left hand on the table, right on Forte's stool, bent forward and out of breath. Now, this looked really good. "Rock, what the hell are you-"  
  
Rock let his body stumble forward a few paces, and threw his face into Forte's chest. "... I got it." He pulled a few sets of disks out, still breathing heavy, and shoved them in Forte's jacket pocket. "Here." Rock wanted to cry. He had almost made it out the door, when Rush had actually started to growl at him, his own master. The dog must have sensed something was up, and he had to take Rush on a wild goose chase before finally losing him. His own dog had tried to bite him, and he wondered desperately if he had done the right thing.  
  
Forte stared at Rock's hand, which was slid deep into his pocket, and noticed the way the arm attached to it shook slightly. "Fuck, what happened?" He found himself asking, not that he really wanted to know, he couldn't risk Rock finding out what he was about to do. "Did you get caught taking it and have to run?" Rock's face sunk further into his chest, and he shook his head 'no' slightly.  
  
Looking up at Forte with tears in his eyes, Rock slowly told him everything that had happened. How Rush had caught a known enemy's scent on his hand and growled, of Dr. Light's blatant ignoring of his creation, of Roll continuously telling him to 'cheer up!' and 'don't look so down!' yet never once asking why he was so upset. Then the way he had crept into Light's lab, and spent the rest of the afternoon making copies of everything. "Then Rush just.... Just.... He attacked me!" He whimpered, sobbing hard. "I'm a horrible person... Rush only attacks bad people..."  
  
Forte felt like taking his shot glass, and ramming it through his eye socket. Anything to not have to listen to Rock carrying on anymore. "I'm sure you're not a bad person." He mumbled, returning his gaze to the strippers on stage. That was an understatement. Rock was possibly the most pure, innocent person he knew. Fucking obnoxious at that. "What you've done is really going to help us a lot." Forte couldn't help a snide grin with that comment. If only the smaller boy knew exactly who he'd be helping.  
  
Rock shifted where he stood. "I don't know what I'm going to do now." He took his hand out of Forte's pocket and wrapped his arms around himself. "I can't go back. Rush would...and I don't want to have to fight him. Dr. Light might notice..." No, that wasn't true. Dr. Light didn't notice anything anymore. He was too busy working on that horrible project, not caring about Rock. Feeling tired and emotionally exhausted, Rock stared longingly at Forte, wishing for a hug, or a kind word, or something.  
  
Forte pointedly did not look at Rock; he refused to look into those stupid puppy-eyes the small boy was giving him lest he die of sheer sappiness. But damnit, he was playing a part here, and the best thing to do in that situation was to continue, or Rock would get suspicious. If that happened, he didn't doubt that the kid would start a fight, right there and then. He would absolutely hate to learn he'd been mistaken. "There, there." Forte muttered insincerely, patting Rock on the head like he sometimes patted Gospel. "They just don't understand." Rock sniffled a little at that. And an instant later, Forte was being hugged almost tight enough to crush something. Shit, Rock was strong when he wasn't thinking about what he was doing. "Rock....I can barely breathe."  
  
Blushing slightly, the small boy released his grip on Forte, instead settling for sitting next to him, one arm slung around Forte's waist. And he wasn't being pushed away! Rock beamed. He wouldn't think about what he'd done until he had to. Moments like this were too precious. He snuggled up to Forte, taking advantage of the contact for as long as he could.  
  
Meanwhile, Forte was panicking. What the FUCK did Rock think he was doing? God, all those fucking knowing winks from the people around them...what the hell? If there was a robot master here, he was fucked and not in a good way. Rock was cuddling up to him sickeningly and showed no signs of letting go.  
  
This had gone on long enough! "Rock!!" Forte hissed under his breath, glaring down at the boy. "Someone's going to see us!" Damn, damn DAMN! Could this night get any worse?!  
  
"Yo. The guys down at the end of the bar bought these for you." A monotonous voice muttered, and drinks were set down before them. Rock looked up quickly the second he heard the voice, and Forte glanced up at their waiter. The two made eye contact, and stared at each other for several seconds. "Holy shit!" The waiter exclaimed, looking from Rock to Forte, and Forte felt himself slide slowly down into his chair. No.... Shit, no, why did it have to be him, of all people?! WHY?  
  
"Blues!" Rock piped happily, staring up at his leather clad, shirtless brother, complete with bowtie. He threw his arms around him tightly, and buried his face in Blues' bare stomach, nuzzling it affectionately. Instantly the tears returned, relief that he had found his only sane family member.  
  
Blues stared down at his brother, mouth hanging ajar. What in god's name was Rock doing in a place like this, filled with the worst scumbags imaginable? He glared down at Rock's company, then his eyes widened in recognition. It was Forte! His sweet, innocent, loving brother was sitting in the middle of a disgusting rathole with fucking FORTE?! "I'll fucking KILL you!" He growled at Rock's companion, and emptied the shotglass- all over Forte's face. He grabbed for the front of Forte's shirt while he tried wiping liquor out of his eyes distractedly, and punched him as hard as he could in the gut. He prepared himself to give the Wily bot the beating of his life, yet this proved more difficult than he originally thought with Rock clinging to his arm tightly.  
  
Rock let go of his brother, watching with surprise as the only two semi- sane people he knew fought tooth and nail. He wanted to call out, to get them to stop fighting...but all that he managed to say was "Why are you here, Blues?" The fight diminished a little, Forte backing off and cackling at the shirtless Blues, getting an incoherent growl and a punch in the face.  
  
"Alright you two, quit it. Now!" Blues froze in mid-punch. "Damnit, I won't stand for fights in my establishment!" Bellowed the large, overweight man looming behind Rock. "You're fired! And get the hell out, all three of you!"  
  
---------------------------  
  
Rock sighed. He had kind of liked that place. The people had been friendly, Forte hung out there, and even Blues went there. And now he was out in the streets. There was a muffled curse from someone - either Forte or Blues, he couldn't tell - and another loud thud as someone was slammed against the wall again. He sighed again, heavily, and wondered why he had been kicked out if he wasn't fighting. It was cold out, darnit.  
  
With another curse, Blues shoved Forte to the ground...and watched with surprise as a few disks slipped out of his enemy's pocket. "Well, what have we here?" He muttered, grabbing them and glaring at Forte. "Stolen information!"  
  
"Hey!! Give that back!" Forte growled, trying to wrench them free from Blues' iron grip. "I haven't stolen shit!!" He protested, cursing Rock secretly for shoving them in such an easy to find place. He let out a choked grunt as he was lifted off his feet by Blues, and thrown against the wall-HARD. "Those are just games! I swear!!"  
  
"I know damned well what this is!" Blues spat, holding the disks just out of Forte's grasp. "What were you doing there with my brother?!" When Forte refused to answer, Blues felt his anger grow. "I swear to god, if you've even thought of touching him, I'll mangle you so badly-" He stopped dead, feeling the heat of Rock's body against his back. Rock was pressed against him, shivering.  
  
"I'm cold." Rock demanded, more than stated. "Can you give Forte the games I lent him back? It's freezing out here." He traced designs down Blues' back with an almost innocent air to him, then added as an afterthought. "Can I sleep over?" He stared up at Blues, who nodded slightly to Rock, heeding his commands and giving Forte the information back. Rock smiled slightly at his brother, feeling horrible for lying to him, but he'd known that would work, if he could just get his attention momentarily. Blues would never let Rock go hungry, thirsty, cold, or without anything he needed, and instantly he was tending to the boy.  
  
"Aw, Rock, I'm sorry. Do you want my-" He blinked, then reddened as his hands touched his bare shoulders, he forgot he was wearing nothing but his work uniform. "Well, let's get you out of the cold. Do you want some hot chocolate?" He wrapped an arm around Rock, pulling him close, and began to make his way down the road.  
  
Forte stared at Rock's back as he was led away from him, and realized that Rock could be rather conniving himself, when he wanted to be. He couldn't believe this had worked, and he'd done it almost unscathed. Rock signaled quickly to the corner he was walking past, then up to the sky- He wanted to meet there again tomorrow night? Like hell! Forte had what he wanted, there was no need to see Rock anymore. He nodded in acknowledgement, however.  
  
-------------------------  
  
Forte grinned, walking calmly up to the door of Wily's lab. He hadn't checked to see what was on the disks, but he knew Rock would have gotten something useful; as stupid as the smaller boy was, he wasn't a complete idiot when it came to obeying orders. He strode proudly into the lab, dropping the disks idly on a table behind the working man. "Got information for you. Straight from Light's lab." He smirked. "Can't say that's not important."  
  
Wily barely glanced over his shoulder at the disks. "I'll get to them in a few days. I'm busy."  
  
"What the fuck?" Forte growled, clenching his fists. "I worked my ass off to get these damn things..." He trailed off, noting the warning look on Wily's face. "Fine. Do that, fucktard. I'm heading out." Grumbling to himself, Forte stormed out of the lab. One of these days he was going to kill that stupid human, or get someone else to if it turned out he simply couldn't override his programming. There was no point in trying to get his favor.  
  
And he found himself standing at a damn street corner that night, staring at the sky and trying to find the will to move and meet Rock. There was someone who would listen to him, do whatever he said if he asked for it. Sure, one day he'd kill the kid, but for now he might as well take advantage of the trust he'd been given. Muttering curses quietly to himself, Forte shuffled down the dirty street.  
  
When he finally made it to his meeting place, he was surprised to find Rock wasn't there. Forte looked around, to see if he had misunderstood the meeting place, then sighed. Nowhere. Stuffing his hands in his pockets, he stalked off. Fuck. FUCK! He should have known better than to get his hopes up. Rock didn't need him anymore, he'd found Blues, and now he was probably at home in bed, happy as fucking clam. Good, he hadn't really wanted to see him anyway. Not really...  
  
----------------------------  
  
End Chapter Two.  
  
Leave a review. Please? We love them. 


	3. Chapter Three

Nuts and Bolts   
  
Chapter Three  
  
Author's Notes: And in this chapter, we start getting into the actual plot. Yay. We know the chapters are long, but it's a long story. It is what happens when you get two people working on a story.  
  
Whee, more yaoi here! Behold the mild fluff and savor it whilst it lasts. 3  
  
------------------  
  
Rock ran as fast as his legs could carry him toward the place he'd promised to meet Forte. Blues had forbidden Rock from ever hanging around with Forte again, and had seemed suspicious that Forte had done something horrible to Rock, though what, he didn't say. He kept looking him over for bruises in the strangest spots. Finally, after four checks, Rock was allowed to put his clothing back on - Blues had made him strip to his boxers - and Blues let him be. He had been beginning to worry Blues would never leave for his other job, and now he was late, terribly late. Three hours, to be exact.   
  
Turning a sharp corner, he shot straight pass the junky in the alleyway, not bothering to address him this time. Finally he was on the street, and stared down it to see..... Nothing. No one was on the street at all, and he knew Forte couldn't go back to that place they'd been thrown out of. Slowing down, he walked to the corner and looked around slowly. Poor Forte... He probably got angry and left hours ago. Now he'd never want to talk to him again, and-  
  
"Just so you know, I wasn't waiting for you." Forte growled from the shadows of the doorway he was resting against. He got his feet slowly, then strolled over to Rock calmly. "I happen to find that spot rather comfort-!!" He grunted loudly as Rock hugged him tightly, making full body contact, and struggled to break free of his grip. "Hey! Save it for your fuck-buddy! Christ, you're going to break my back!"  
  
Rock looked up at him, wide eyed, tears in his eyes. "Forte... You waited for me...... You really waited...all this time." He finally released his death grip on Forte and wiped his eyes with the backs of his hands, smiling happily. Forte opened his mouth to protest the fact that he'd willingly spent three hours waiting for Rock to grace him with his presence but was cut off as the boy continued to gush. "I was worried you'd left! I'm sorry you had to wait so long! Blues didn't want me to go near you though."  
  
Rock wound his arms around Forte's waist again, and the taller boy found himself resisting less. Listening to the kid wail was a small price to pay for finally having someone to listen to him-really listen. "Let's go somewhere warm." he muttered, brushing himself off as though Rock were a particle of dust.   
  
Rock followed Forte happily along the dark and disgusting streets like a puppy, chirping happily about his day with Blues to Forte, keeping up a constant stream of talk and relishing the way Forte nodded and occasionally answered. He wasn't getting pushed away, he was actually talking with Forte, and maybe they wouldn't have to fight each other again... maybe that was too hopeful. Blues still didn't like Forte, after all, though Rock was going to make an effort to change his brother's opinion of his newfound friend. He continued talking. "...and then Blues got kinda suspicious about something. He said you might have done something bad to me but he wasn't telling me what. He said that you were a horrible defiling pervert."  
  
Forte snorted in laughter. Oh, come on. He was a pervert, sure, and horribly evil, but it wasn't like he'd fuck Rock. Well. Not unless he was desperate, anyway. Or maybe if he was bored. Or maybe... never mind, that was a bad train of thought. "Really. Seems like you need to tell your brother it takes one to know one." Christ, ogling his own brother. How low had Blues sunk?  
  
Rock blinked. Obviously he was missing out on something, but it didn't really bother him. "Say, Forte, did you get a look at the, uh...stuff I lent you?"  
  
Crap. "Uh, well...." Forte searched for a decent lie to feed Rock as the smaller boy clung to his arm. "We, uh, haven't gotten a chance to look through it yet...we have to make sure Wily doesn't find out anything, of course, and you know how horrible it would be if Wily found out what was on those things, right?" Rock's eyes widened incredibly, and he nodded vigorously. For an instant, he wondered what the kid had put on those damn things. Whatever. There was a bar up ahead, one he was well acquainted with and where they didn't ask your age even if you were a toddler. "Come on, Rock. Have you ever been drunk?"  
  
"...Drunk?" Rock shook his head slowly, the word sounding foreign on his tongue. "Why? Wha-" He was broken off as Forte grabbed his hand and dragged him into the bar. The first thing Rock noticed was smoke- Lots of it. It seemed that everyone was smoking in there, even the people in the pictures. He coughed softly, hand over his mouth politely, then looked up at Forte, smiling weakly. "I think my air filtration unit's gonna need repla~aaaaie!!" He squealed as Forte grabbed him around the waist and lifted him up onto a bar stool, hopping on one next to him, and within seconds a strange, brown bottled drink sat before him.   
  
"Well, bottoms up." Forte grinned, grabbing his beer. He downed it within seconds, then looked over at Rock and smirked, not wanting to miss Rock's first drink. Rock hadn't budged an inch, and was staring at the bottle with mild curiosity. "Rock, what're you doing? Drink it before it gets warm!" He grabbed Rock's hand, face reddening slightly as Rock tried to hold it, and set it down on the neck of the bottle. "Come on, what are you, scared?"  
  
Rock stiffened at this, gripping the bottle tightly, and tipped it back, getting a full four chugs in before spitting what was left in his mouth all over Forte. "Eww!!!! Forte, that's so gross!!" He whined, pushing the bottle away. "I don't want that, you can have it!" He smiled sweetly at Forte, either unaware of the alcohol soaking the bioroid. Or blatantly ignoring it.   
  
Reaching over for a napkin, Forte began to wipe the beer off his face and neck, trying hard to keep his temper in check. He didn't want to strangle the one person who still listened to him, but did Rock really need to do that? He threw the napkins down on the bar, took a deep, long breath, then gave a very forced smile, frighteningly close to a snarl. "O.....Kay...... Let's get you.... Something else.." He seethed, then snapped at the bartender, getting himself another beer and a sweet sugary wine cooler for Rock. There. There was no way he could possibly complain about that, right? It was sweet and sugary; there was no way Rock could find it tasteless and bitter... WOMEN drank the shit.  
  
Rock took the wine cooler as it was handed to him, smiling up at Forte. "I don't know how to thank you for everything, Forte... Really..." He smiled up at Forte admiringly, and downed half the bottle.   
  
-----------------  
  
"Shit, shit, shit!!! Watch out for my shoes! Rock, my-" Forte shouted at Rock as he walked with him, supporting the boy as he vomited anywhere and everywhere he could. "............ never mind." He continued to drag the heaving boy down the road, arm around his waist tightly as Rock's small hand clung to his shirt collar. He heard a small whimpered apology, and sighed. Fuck, Rock sure couldn't hold his liquor. "Where do you live again?" He grumbled, kicking his ass mentally for ever having such a stupid idea.   
  
Rock murmured something quietly, and Forte strained to hear it, barely catching the directions Rock gave. Shit, that was Blues' place; it was nowhere near where Light's lab was. He'd get killed if he went there. But Rock wouldn't go back to Dr. Light's, not when he was so lonely there, even if he was stinking drunk right then. And arguing with a drunken Rock did not bode well in any way he could possibly imagine. Blues' it was. He sighed heavily, dragging the inebriated boy along with him. He was never doing this again. Rock was too much of a hassle.  
  
And really heavy too, he thought, as he carried a now-unconscious Rock up the stairs to the apartment. He growled quietly to himself how much he hated the kid, struggling to reach the door, then struggling again to unlock and open it, hoping desperately that Blues wasn't home. And with a sigh of pure relief, he walked into the empty apartment. Nobody. One small mercy. He pulled Rock into what he hoped was the guest bedroom - putting Rock to bed in his brother's room would be a bad thing - and shoved him unceremoniously under the sheets. "There. See if I ever hang out with you again, you stinking pansy." He muttered, patting Rock on the head and noting how those small hands reached for him as Rock slept.  
  
Somewhere in the apartment, a door opened, and Forte froze. Shit. This was just his luck. He dove under the bed just as the door opened again and Blues walked in. "Ah, you're asleep." Blues muttered, treading softly over to his brother. Poor kid. He was so damn lonely he was hanging around with bad people. Dr. Light needed some sense shaken into him, but the man wasn't listening to Blues either and there were programming restrictions on harming humans. He ran a hand through Rock's hair gently, sitting next to him on the bed. "I really should have come and helped you out earlier...." He trailed off. Something smelled of....alcohol? Was that alcohol on Rock's breath?  
  
Rock mumbled something softly, shifting closer, and his eyes cracked open a little. "Un..... Forte?" He whimpered softly, afraid. He wasn't being held anymore, he was somewhere cool and soft, a hand brushing his hair back. He didn't know where he was, and he could only guess as to who that hand belonged to.   
  
Blues narrowed his eyes, catching exactly who Rock had been talking about though the slurring. That son of a bitch. He looked around quickly for the culprit, eyes scanning every corner of the room. Slowly his eyes drifted down, toward the floor, and he began to stand, intent on checking under the bed when Rock rolled over suddenly and began vomiting again. With a small gasp, he pulled the boy off the bed and carried him out of the room quickly, toward the washroom. "It's okay," He soothed the crying Rock. "You're going to be fine, it's just me."   
  
Forte stared at Blues' retreating feet and let out a deep, long sigh of relief. Thank god- He hadn't been caught. He slid himself out from under the bed, pausing as he heard Rock give a rather loud heave. Christ, what a light weight! Getting up slowly, he made his way to the door, knowing Blues was likely to be busy for awhile. He was halfway out the door when he was grabbed roughly and jerked back into the Blues' apartment bodily. "Oh shit!!" He managed before Blues' fist found its way into his gut, giving him a good beating.   
  
Blues snarled, hands wrapping themselves around Forte's throat tightly, and he shoved him back onto the couch, pinning him there. "Got you, you little punk!" Releasing Forte's throat, he grabbed onto the collar of his shirt, jerking him forward, and held his fist back threateningly. "Listen up, asshole! For some god awful reason, Rock's chosen to share his company with you. If you ever bring him home like this again, or do ANYTHING to harm him, I'll rip your balls off and beat you to death with them!!"   
  
Forte stared up at him, feeling very much like a trapped animal. He nodded slowly, eyes wide, and he felt Blues' weight ease off him a little. Fuck, he'd forgotten how fiercely overprotective the normally quiet Light bot could be. "R-right." He mumbled, happy to still be in one piece. Best to agree with him for now.   
  
"Good." Blues growled, then gave him a shove forward. "Now get in there and help me clean him up!"  
  
Forte groaned, but he knew that if he wanted to survive for another few minutes at the least, he'd help with cleaning up Rock's little mess. It had been his fault in the first place, he guessed, but it still sucked to have to suffer like this. Bastard, he thought, looking over his shoulder at Blues as they headed into the bathroom to assist the still-vomiting Rock.  
  
-----------------------  
  
Rock curled up against the warm body next to him, burying his face in the soft shirt. He felt a lot better now than he had last night, though it really had been nice of Forte to buy him those drinks and it was a shame that they made him so sick. He snuggled up to the person in bed with him, content in knowing someone was paying attention to him. They grunted, giving him a shove, and he clung even tighter. It was obviously Forte; Blues wouldn't have done that, so Rock smiled slightly. Forte was staying with him. It was so nice; he could hardly believe it was the same Forte that he'd had to fight time and time again.  
  
"Leggo of me." Forte mumbled, hoping like hell that one of the robot masters hadn't decided to try to get sex from him again. But the softness of the bed belied that...he wasn't at Wily's. What the fuck? He blinked his eyes open, took one look around, and glanced down at Rock. Well, fuck.  
  
Rock stared back up at him, smiling softly, and gave him another small nuzzle. Shit! He'd slept with Rock? He began to sit up when he realized they were both clothed, and the events of the prior night came to his mind. "You're hot." He complained, trying unsuccessfully to detach the warm little body from him. "Get off." Damn, he hated this! This strange bed, the strange heat Rock was giving off, all of it. He wanted his own hard little mattress, in his cold room, with Gospel to keep his feet warm. This was all so foreign to him, and he didn't like it one bit.   
  
Rock eased off a little, sensing Forte's discomfort, and settled for laying next to him, staring up at him admiringly. "Forte... I'm so glad you stayed!" He bubbled, happy enough to cry. "Does this mean Blues is going to let me hang around with you?" He asked hopefully, sitting up and scanning the room for his brother. "Blues?"  
  
"Gone to work." Forte muttered miserably. He'd been ordered by Blues not to leave Rock's side until he came home, to see to it that the boy got the attention he'd been severely lacking. He saw Rock's face fall as the boy sank back slowly into the mattress again, and wrapped an arm around him quickly before the brat burst into tears again. "He'll be back soon, he said." Forte lied.   
  
Blues hadn't said a thing about his time of return, other than something along the lines of 'You'd better watch your back, Forte. I could be gone an hour, I might be gone a week. I wouldn't try anything if I were you.'  
  
Rock found himself comforted by this, leaned into him more, pressing his warm body against Forte's again. " 'm hungry." He sighed, tugging at the sleeve of Forte's shirt lightly. "Is there anything to eat?" He gave Forte a sweet smile, and Forte bit his lip, pissed. What was he, a fucking babysitter? Blues hadn't mentioned this at all to him Why couldn't Rock feed himself? He found himself unable to escape those wide, searching eyes, however, and within minutes he was in the kitchen, Rock perched up on his back as he rummaged for something edible in Blues' fridge.  
  
Forte sighed, wanting nothing more than to go back to Wily's place, if only for its familiarity. Rock's constant cheer was really wearing on him, and as much as he hated to admit to any sort of sensitive emotion, he missed Gospel. He only hoped the dog would find his way to the apartment somehow, and bring some sort of comfortable scenery to the place. He couldn't leave. Blues was a constant threat, and Rock would utterly insist on coming along. He was so utterly screwed it wasn't funny. So Forte let Rock babble at him, let him eat like a pig if he wanted to, and let the boy cling to him like a limpet until he could barely breathe. At least Rock wasn't molesting him, and certainly didn't have any ulterior motives to hanging off him all the time. He was just too innocent for that.  
  
All too soon, the day was over, and Forte was growing too familiar with the apartment and with Rock for his comfort. He couldn't allow it to grow on him lest he forget how he had to kill Rock. It was so much easier and slowly becoming more tempting to just let Rock do whatever he told the kid to. He had to admit that was a perk. If he asked for food, Rock would bring it to him - if he got some assistance, of course - if he wanted to do something, anything, Rock would bend over backwards if he thought it would keep Forte there. It was a perverse temptation to molest Rock, if only to piss off Blues.  
  
"Fooorrrteee!" Crap, he was whining again. What was it now? "I'm bored." Rock whimpered, sitting on the floor next to his 'friend' like a puppy.  
  
Forte sighed and rolled his eyes. How could the boy be bored already?? He'd only sat down a total of what, 35 seconds? "What am I supposed to do about that?" He growled, agitated by Rock's hyperactive nature. The boy stared back up at him with pleading eyes, and he realized he had no choice but to entertain him. "Alright, alright." He thought quickly of something-anything for them to do. And grinned. "Rock...." He purred seductively, "Come sit here in front of me." He assisted the willing Rock to a seated position facing him. "Want to play a little game?"  
  
Rock's smile widened and he nodded quickly. Wow! Not only was Forte staying with him, he wanted to play a game now too! "Well... Okay..." He stated as casually as he could- which was not casual at all- and allowed Forte to reach out and rest his hands on his shoulders. "How do you play?" He asked, confused by the faint blush beginning to form on Forte's cheeks.   
  
"It's really easy." He mumbled, leaning forward. "Think of it as follow the leader, just do what I do." His lips found their way to Rock's tender neck, and he heard a soft sigh from Rock as Forte's tongue teased and trailed down it slowly.   
  
Rock found this to be a strange game, but if it was what Forte wanted to play, it was fine by him. He shivered softly and let out a small whimper, blushing at the strange noises escaping him. He didn't know what was happening, but it sure felt good. Reaching back quickly, he found a place to balance his weight, in case the game ran on late.   
  
Forte let out a soft noise as he felt Rock do the same, and opened his mouth more before beginning to suck at that soft white neck slowly, moaning at Rock's attempted mimics. His hand was on Rock's ass within seconds, and he gave it slow, deep squeezes before shifting to the boy's hip, gripping it tightly. With a small moan, he tumbled the boy back, falling onto him, and began to kiss him rather hotly.   
  
Rock decided that he really, really liked this game. He moaned involuntarily, wrapping one arm behind Forte's head and the other around his waist. He didn't know what the point was, or why Forte had suggested it, but did it matter when it was, well, this fun? His face felt like it was burning, and he was terribly nervous for some reason....he bucked up against Forte, thinking vaguely that there was probably more to this game that he didn't know about and he rather wanted to explore...  
  
Forte was having a good time like Rock, and sadly did not notice it when the door opened. "...." There was silence for an instant in the doorway, then the door slammed shut, finally attracting Forte's attention as he pulled quickly away from the kiss. "...What the FUCK do you think you're DOING, you....you...." Blues clenched his fists, trembling slightly with rage at the sight. Forte had pinned Rock down and had forced him into a kiss...good god, what if he hadn't come back today, just in case? Rock could have been.... He twitched. "Rock....I don't suppose you could get out from under Forte and let me 'talk' to him for a while, would you?"  
  
Rock squirmed out from under Forte, pouting slightly at the 'game' being interrupted. "Alright, alright." He sighed, wondering what the big deal was. He walked over to Blues and gave him a welcoming hug. "I'm glad you're back!" Forte remained frozen where he lay, staring up at the two of them. Crap.  
  
Blues hugged Rock back tightly, clutching him close possessively, and frowned. The boy reeked of Forte's scent. He was saturated in it, as though Forte had been all over him the entire day. Considering what he'd seen on the floor, he wouldn't be surprised if he had. He felt himself begin to worry that perhaps he didn't come home fast enough after all. He began to straighten Rock's clothes out, and smooth his hair down, between nasty glares aimed at Forte.   
  
That bastard! How could he even think about laying a hand on Rock that way? He was so sweet, and innocent.... He continued to rub his back soothingly, and looked his exposed neck over quickly, displeased to discover red marks all over his milky neck and shoulders. The son of a bitch had bitten his brother, in several spots. He hoped for Forte's sake that they hadn't hurt.   
  
Slowly, he began to lift Rock's shirt, eyes still focused on Forte, then stopped, deciding on a more thorough inspection afterward, when it was just Rock and himself, to save embarrassment. "Rock, your favourite show's on." Rock perked up at this and smiled, looking toward the television excitedly. He urged Rock forward, knowing that whatever show Rock had on tended to be his favourite show of the moment.   
  
Forte listened to the sound of Rock's retreating footsteps, and then suddenly they were alone. He stood up slowly, already knowing how this was going to end. "C'mon, Blues!" Forte defended himself with quickly as Blues carefully unbuttoned his work shirt, pulling it off slowly and draping it over the couch. "I didn't mean anything by it! It was just a joke to see how riled I could get you after work!" He held his hands up defensively as he was backed slowly into the corner. "It's not like I did any harm!!" He defended himself with one last time, before Blues leaned in and...  
  
....stopped, abruptly, as Rock poked his head back into the room. "....Uh, Blues?" His brother backed away from Forte as if nothing had happened. Rock stared for a minute. "...Oh. For a second there I thought you were going to punch Forte or something..." He trailed off, frowning. "You weren't going to do that, were you?"  
  
"Of course not!" Blues said smoothly, Forte glaring death at him from the corner. "What did you want, Rock?"  
  
Nothing." Rock said flippantly. He really hoped Blues wasn't getting violent again. He might break some furniture. "I'll just...go back in here."  
  
As Rock ducked back into his room, Forte grinned. "Oh, so I get in trouble for something fairly innocent, but you're his brother and you can molest him aaalll you want when you two are alone....heh." Blues twitched as Forte reveled in his newfound, temporary protection from a beating. "Come on, you know you want him. You're just jealous that I'm getting to him first." That wasn't true. Forte had little interest in sex with Rock, though the kissing had been fun. But Blues turned red and spluttered indignantly, and Forte knew he had something there.   
  
"I'm going to kill you and throw your body out the window the instant I get you alone, and I'll tell Rock you ran off to Wily again." Blues growled. "....but for the moment, I suppose I have to let you live." He grabbed his shirt off the couch, storming into the room with Rock. Forte slumped down on the floor. All he'd really done was put off the pain.  
  
Slowly, Forte stood up, and stared out the window quietly. He was still stuck here, so where the hell was Gospel? The lack of good company was starting to eat away at him, and he really wanted to get as far from Blues' apartment as possible. It was like being locked up in a prison cell. "... Come on, boy.." He muttered, then turned and stormed off to Rock's room, slamming the door shut behind himself.   
  
--------------------  
  
Rock stared up at Blues occasionally, when the light from the television screen illuminated him enough. Blues was still wearing his shades, and he couldn't tell where he was looking, which for some reason made him leery today. His brother's arms were wrapped around him gently, and he was holding him close, so Rock's head rested against Blues' chest heavily. By now, he was sure that he'd stopped Blues and Forte from getting into another one of their fist-fights, something he hated. He couldn't stand the fact that the two of them couldn't get along, and it hurt his feelings.   
  
"Rock, did you call dad like I asked you to this morning?" Blues asked lowly, running his fingers through Rock's hair. Silence. "Rock, you've got to let him know where you've been, you've been missing for almost two days." More silence. Blues sighed softly, knowing better than to push Rock toward making the call. "Just.... Try to call tomorrow, okay?" Complete silence. Damn, Rock sure wasn't making this easy. Dr. Light's negligent attitude toward Rock was really bothering him. Blues felt for him, he'd been through the same thing a long time ago, that much he was sure of. "Rock... Is Dr. Light building another robot?" He asked calmly, fingers ever running themselves through Rock's locks.   
  
At first Rock was silent, and Blues began to wonder if Rock was actually asleep when he heard a faint whisper. "Yes." Rock's face burrowed deeper into his chest, and he kept his eyes focused on the television, refusing to glance up at Blues. "Why?"  
  
Oh boy. Blues sighed.  
  
"Well...I know of one time he got like this before." Rock looked at his brother with surprise and hope. "No, no...don't be like that. It isn't good, Rock." Crap, how was he supposed to say this? He sighed heavily. "...Dad gets like this when...he's building a new robot...and I know this because he was like this a lot when he was working on you."   
  
Rock's silence turned from anticipatory to horrified in a second. He had....oh, no. If Dr. Light had neglected Blues the way that Rock had been neglected... no wonder he wandered all over the place and didn't like staying at home! It was all Rock's fault! He felt miserably guilty for making Blues sad. He didn't want anyone to go through what he was going through, but because of him... He clung to Blues tightly. "Why don't you hate me?" He whispered, hoping Blues wouldn't suddenly push him away. "I...I made Dr. Light...and this is so horrible, and...I think I hate that stupid robot he's building, then!" Rock blurted, barely knowing what he was saying. "Why doesn't he care anymore?"  
  
Blues shushed Rock, patting him gently. "I thought I'd hate you too...but I don't, Rock." The boy looked up at him, eyes watery. "Don't go saying that because I know it's not your fault Dr. Light gets so...damn involved in his work, and it's certainly not the new robot's fault. He or she...didn't choose to be made. Dr. Light still cares about you, he's just...." Blues couldn't think of what to say. God, the Doctor was a bastard sometimes. At least he'd been programmed a lot less emotionally than Rock...the poor kid was a thousand times more vulnerable to neglect than he was  
  
"Hn. Relax, kid. I'm sure once the robot's built, Dr. Light'll go back to the way he usually is." Forte stood in the doorway wearing nothing but a pair of boxers, carton of Blues' milk in hand. Rock turned his head to look at his friend, and Blues rolled his eyes in exasperation. Christ, he'd just spent all that time calming Rock down, and now Forte was going to get him riled up again for fun. What an asshole.   
  
Forte ambled over to the couch, yawning sleepily, and grabbed the remote from Rock, changing the channel. "Trust me, Wily always gets freakish when he's building a new robot. Then he finishes them and he goes back to his usual self. Not that that's really a good thing." It was much easier to get away with things when dealing with a distracted Wily.   
  
Rock rubbed his tear filled eyes, and sniffled softly. "R-really..?" He looked between the two looking like a wreck. He let Blues' hand guide his head back against his chest and continue to stroke him soothingly.   
  
Both Blues and Forte nodded. "Yeah, your brother's right. It's not your fault. Dr. Light's a scientist. They're all like that." Forte shrugged, inviting himself to a bag of chips on Blues' table. He looked over, expecting to see a displeased look on Blues' face over Forte's thievery, but was surprised to see something else there instead. Forte felt himself relax slightly, not so worried anymore about Blues kicking the shit out of him for the moment, and simply enjoy the moment. There was something that felt especially good to him at this moment. He almost felt as though he was missing something until now.  
  
Blues looked at Forte. Hmm. Maybe the pervert could live for a little while longer...he'd helped calm Rock down, and that counted for a lot in Blues' book. The boy was curled up against his chest much more peacefully now, the tension mostly faded from his small form. In fact...he poked Rock gently. He was out like a light. Good. He didn't think he could deal with any more crying....for an instant he was tempted to hurt Forte anyway, but the noise would wake Rock up and he'd have to calm him down again, something he didn't want to have to deal with. He loved Rock, but really, sometimes he was a hell of an emotional burden.  
  
Forte stretched and yawned himself, glancing back at Blues. "Gonna kill me anytime soon?" He taunted. Blues twitched. Forte grinned, but decided for once that he wasn't going to push it.   
  
"Right... Well, night." Forte muttered. He got up slowly, reaching out to take Rock from Blues, then paused. They looked so peaceful together like that, that he just couldn't separate them. "See ya." He slinked off to his room slowly, that momentary feeling- what was that feeling?- gone, and made his way into the bedroom.   
  
With a small sigh, Blues leaned back, covering Rock, and stared in the direction Forte had left for several hours, before finally succumbing to sleep himself.   
  
------------------  
  
End Chapter Three.  
  
Ending Author's Notes: Review. We love the reviews. The lack of them has been pitiful.  
  
Gimp: Yeah, WTF. Do people just not review anymore, or is no one reading this. Drop a review, or a flame, or SOMETHING. What's wrong with you? *Smacks you all upside the proverbial head*   
  
Shibby: *stops Gimp before she rants* -_-;;;; 


	4. Chapter Four

Nuts and Bolts Chapter Four  
  
Author's Notes: And now the angst begins. Yay! *happy*  
  
------------------  
  
Slowly, Forte rolled over in his sleep, groaning softly. Something was buzzing in his ear, and he felt a slight pain in his wrist. "Uhn?" He grunted intelligently, and sat up slowly. His wrist was covered in blood, the bedside table rest in splinters, and his com unit lay on the ground, covered in wood chips and his blood. He must have broken the table trying to silence his communicator. "Ow..." He growled, reaching down and retrieving it with his good hand, and he turned it on, ignoring the insistent banging of the bedroom door. "What." He sighed, getting to his feet.  
  
Fuck, it was Wily! "Get back here now, Forte, we need to discuss that information you stole for me." Forte stared at the communicator in his hand, eyes wide. What in God's name had Rock given him?  
  
"Forte, are you in there??" It was Rock, and he sounded worried. Behind him, he heard Blues talking to Rock, asking him what was broken, then he too was beating on the door. "Are you okay?"  
  
Forte sighed, tossing his communicator aside, and flopped back in bed. This was not going to be a good day. It didn't take a genius to work that out. He'd leave for the fortress in another 15 minutes. Fuck Wily. "Yeah, come in." Forte sighed, wiping the blood from his arm lazily, giving no thought to the white sheets he used to do so.  
  
Rock walked in, glancing around nervously...and took one look at Forte's bleeding arm and yelped, dashing across the room. "You're hurt!" He whimpered, ignoring the smashed bedside table completely in his upset over the blood. "Oh, did you hurt yourself? Are you gonna be okay?" Rock stared into Forte's surprised face, ignoring the unintelligible syllables he was spouting. "Blues..."  
  
Blues was already walking far more calmly around to the bedside table. Why the hell had Forte smashed it in his sleep? He shook his head, deciding it was best not to ask. "You might want to get that fixed, Forte..." He gestured to the blood still seeping from the damaged arm. "Rock, you can do basic repairs..." He watched his brother's eyes light up, following as Rock led Forte gingerly through the apartment to a table, grabbing some equipment and starting work immediately.  
  
Forte remained dazed through the entire thing, from where he was dragged out of the room to where he was randomly repaired by Rock. "Forte....Forte?" Someone poked him, and startled, he realized it was Rock. His arm felt fine. "Is that okay? Does it hurt? Did I do well?" Rock looked at him anxiously as he flexed the limb. It felt perfectly fine. Forte nodded slowly. "Good!" Rock chirped, wrapping him in a hug. Forte just stared. Why the hell were they doing this? Weren't they angry about the damn table? As Rock snuggled closer to him, he guessed not. ....Well, that was....nice, he had to grudgingly admit. Better than how he had it at Wily's by a long shot. But he had to go back there right about then....  
  
There was no way out of it, you always come when Wily calls. only a complete fool would ignore one of his commands. He had to go. Looking at Rock, however, he realized there was no way for him to tell the boy. What was he going to do? He continued to stare at his arm, feeling himself begin to grow frustrated, and angry. Why the hell did they have to be so nice anyway? How the hell was he going to betray them now?  
  
He hugged Rock back hastily, then stood up suddenly. "Blues, can I talk to you alone for a minute?" He asked aloud, patting Rock softly and ignoring the looks the boy kept flashing him. "It works great, Rock." Forte murmured, the compliment rolling off his tongue oddly. When the kid still didn't take the hint, he led him to the door. "I just need to talk to him about something, you're not going to miss out on much of anything. Okay, that was a lie right there, but Forte desperately needed the privacy.  
  
Hearing Forte shut the door behind Rock, Blues looked up at him, eyes knowing. "Well......" For the first time in a long while, Blues was tongue- tied, he couldn't think of something wise or even sarcastic to say. "Going back home, huh?" Forte nodded, and he stared up at the ceiling. "Try to come visit once in awhile."  
  
Forte sat down next to Blues, staring out the window gloomily. "I need you to.... I mean..... You know I can't tell him, Blues...I don't want to deal with his whining." Forte grumbled miserably, staring out the window. "You tell him, right? Remind him that next time I see him on the battlefield...... we won't be friends.  
  
Blues bit his tongue, holding back the urge to yell at Forte for not bothering to tell Rock himself, then decided that this would be best, in the end. He knew Rock wouldn't take the news well to begin with, and if Forte told him. "Alright, but you owe me for Kleenex." He sighed finally, rolling his eyes. "Forte......" He looked over at him, slipping his shades off, and stared silently, mouth partially open, as though to speak. Finally, he shut his mouth. "You'd better leave now, before Rock gets wind of this." He gestured to Forte's exit- a small window.  
  
---------------------  
  
Forte grumbled to himself as he strode through the halls of the lab. What the hell...stupid Wily. What the crap was on those damn things anyway? He stormed through the building, robot masters carefully avoiding him. Pissed- off Forte was not something to mess with. Ah well... Forte sighed. At least he could find Gospel here. Maybe he could send the dog back to Rock's place as an apology- why the fuck was he thinking this? ....but he'd keep it in mind.  
  
Not much later, he burst into Wily's lab. "So, finally took a look at what I got you, huh?" Wily was sitting in his chair, staring at the screen, transfixed by data moving across it too fast for Forte to bother deciphering. "Hey! Old guy! You called me, I'm here, what the hell is it?" Silence. Christ, this was just his luck; Wily would stare at that stupid data for hours on end and make him wait and wait and...  
  
"You did well."  
  
Forte blinked. Wily couldn't have said.... "Wait, what?"  
  
Wily turned around in his chair, the usual maniac gleam in his eyes more pronounced than Forte had ever seen it. "You did more than well. Only damn good thing you've ever done." Holy raging fuck, it was a compliment from Wily. All of his replies died unspoken. This had never happened before.... "In fact, Forte, take the week off. I'm going to need to be alone with this for a long while...maybe I can finally make up for making a failure like you." Gaping, Forte nodded vacantly, the words not quite registering in his mind until he walked out the door.  
  
Oh FUCK. Rock had given him the plans for Dr. Light's new robot.  
  
--------------------  
  
Forte walked slowly toward Blues' apartment late that night, backpack slung over his shoulder and Gospel in tow. He still couldn't believe Rock had given him the plans for Light's robot. Now more then ever, he wished he had taken a look at those plans. At least that way he'd know precisely what they were up against. Shaking slightly, he knocked the door.  
  
"Coming!!" A voice piped up, and Rock swung the door wide open. And stared silently. There was something in the way Forte looked that scared Rock worse than anything Forte had ever done to him before. "Forte... I thought you...... were....." His voice died away. Forte looked so wild, so...... God, was that fear in his eyes? He wondered vaguely what could make Forte afraid.  
  
"Christ Rock!!" He grabbed his small companion by the shoulders, squeezing them until he practically crushed them and Rock was crying out softly in pain. "ROCK!" He forced the already crying book to look him in the eye. "What did you put on those disks, goddamnit!! What did you do? Rock, we're fucked! All of us!!" He shook him roughly, trying to force the boy to tell him something- anything, but the boy simply clamed up, sobbing harder.  
  
New robot. He had been replaced, and when Wily replaced you he didn't keep you around. Fuck, fuck, fuck. He'd screwed up for the last time.and when he was out of the way, he knew who was going to die next.  
  
"Rock, what's going on out there??" Blues asked, running out of his room quickly. "Forte? What in the hell are you-" He stopped dead, seeing the look in Forte's eyes, and grabbed the Wily bot instead, dragging him into the house, Gospel trotting after him faithfully.  
  
Rock rubbed his eyes slowly, crying quietly. Forte had terrified him enough with the look in his eyes, but actually hurting him, and shaking him..... He didn't understand why Forte got so violent suddenly, and worse yet, he didn't understand why Forte was so angry with him. Hadn't the robot masters found that somewhat useful?  
  
Forte pulled back a chair, sitting at the table, and signaled for both Rock and Blues to come sit with him. "We.... Need to talk."  
  
--------------------  
  
"....Wily has WHAT?" Blues was standing, Rock was crying on the table, his sobs of 'how could you' already died off and moved on to deeper, incoherent ones. "Holy Christ...." His thoughts raced. No point in yelling at Forte, he didn't know what the information had been. and if he had, he would have known just how fucked giving that to Wily would have made him as well as Dr. Light. "....Crap. What do we do now?" He shook his head, idly wrapping an arm around Rock only to have it shoved viciously away.  
  
Forte squirmed in his seat, nervous and not liking it one bit. "I don't know, I don't know...." He ran a hand over Gospel's head as the dog whined. "As much as I hate to say it, we have to tell Light. Fuck....I know what crazy old man Wily will do, it's not pretty, and I doubt Light's designed any good weapons for the new guy. And he'll need them, damnit." He shuddered. "Fuck. Wily knows what he's doing, he'll make his 'bot go after the bioroids first, then Light, then the new guy, and finally everything else. And probably the first ones to die will be...." He glanced significantly at Rock. "And, uh, me of course."  
  
"I can't believe you....oh, screw it. You're right. Crazy old bastard...." Blues growled, "Why the hell he wants to kill everyone is beyond me."  
  
Rock sobbed again, then forced himself to calm down just enough to speak. "I-I hate this. I h-hate fighting." Blues rubbed a hand on his back, and Forte looked over the table at him with an emotion he would have called remorse on any other face but Forte's. Forte didn't feel bad about doing anything. He buried his face in his brother's shirt. "A-and Dr. Light isn't listening to a-anyone."  
  
Forte sighed, flopping down on the other side of Rock. "I'll make him listen." A pause. "Rock...... I.... I'm sorry... I..." He reached out, to hug the boy gently.  
  
"Don't touch me!!!!!" Rock shrieked, pushing him away and returning to his sobbing state. "H-how could you, Forte... How could you lie to me like that!! I betrayed my father for you!!!" He collapsed back into Blues' arms again, hiding his face from Forte. "I don't want your help! Just go away! GO AWAY!!! You've done enough!" He heard the chair drag on the floor suddenly, as Forte got to his feet.  
  
Forte stared down at Rock, eyes wide. He had known Rock would be upset. He'd anticipated all of this- Yet he hadn't believed it would happen. Now he simply stood there, not know what to do. "I'm..... I won't beg you for forgiveness, Rock. You know that. It's.... not what I do." He sighed, leaning back against the wall.  
  
There was no way he was going to keep bothering Rock on the subject, he didn't want Rock to accept his apology unless it was genuine. He'd rather the boy stay angry until then. Still... It hurt- a lot, and he didn't know why. He couldn't place the feeling he was now experience. Wringing his hands, he continued "I'm not just going to leave either. What happened was my fault. I'd take it back if could, but that's not possible, so let me help."  
  
Rock said nothing, did nothing, so Blues spoke instead. "... Alright. We'll let you help- on one condition. You don't tell Dr. Light Rock's the one who gave you the information." He sighed, rubbing the back of Rock's head gently, frowning slightly. "I really wanted to trust you, Forte.... But that's not possible now. I'll be watching you."  
  
Forte nodded, staring at the floor. He knew why, and understood their need for it. Oh christ, though... "Do you think I should check on Wily to see what exactly he's going to do, or would that be too suspicious?" His tone was dead serious. There was no reason for it, it was completely insane, but....he wanted their trust.  
  
Blues sighed. "We'll...have to see. It's a good idea. We might have you do it, in the end..." He stared at the shuddering Rock. "And I think right about now we should get to Dr. Light. The sooner he knows, the better."  
  
--------------------  
  
Take notes. Check programming again. More notes, bugs here and there. What the hell was wrong with Dr. Light? It was like he didn't realize anyone else existed. Forte continued staring at the back of the Doctor's head. Wily would catch those bugs; the final check and Dr. Light would start working more on the body.  
  
Rock walked into the room, accompanied by Blues. They'd trusted him enough alone with Light, which wasn't hard considering that they were just outside the door at all times. Rock was shudderingly nervous, even after Blues had talked with him.  
  
He felt like every inch of his being had been ripped apart by Forte's words. He'd betrayed Rock again, and Rock had let it happen. Blues had tried for hours to soothe his brother, telling him it hadn't been his fault, reminding him that they needed him mentally stable right now. Blues had even stood up for Forte, something which surprised the boy greatly.  
  
He knew Forte hadn't realized what he was doing at the time, but that didn't stop the heartache Rock now experienced. He had given Forte as much trust, love and devotion as he had a member of the family, and Forte had very swiftly stabbed him in the back at the first opportunity. He wanted desperately to forgive Forte, to wrap his arms around him and not let go, but he just couldn't. This was far too extreme a crime. He shot Blues a look which screamed 'I'm scared' and Blues drew him closer comfortingly.  
  
Forte, meanwhile, deemed it time to make his presence known. "Light." He muttered, and poked the man in the back when he received no response.  
  
"What do you want, Rock-" He gasped loudly, staring at the wily bot, and jumped to his feet. "You!! What are you doing back here? What have you done with my fam-" He broke off with a grunt as Forte pushed him back into his chair calmly.  
  
"You're in a lot of trouble, Old Man." He paced in front of the chair listlessly. "A few days ago, I stole some information off you while you slept. Little did I realize I had taken some plans. I'm sure you know what plans I'm talking about. Wily has them now, and I'm as fucked as the lot of you are. I know Wily, he'll get rid of me the first chance he gets- He's tried it in the past." Forte helped himself to a spot on the desk, next to Dr. Light. "So, I'm making a proposition. You haven't made weapons- any protection for this robot yet, have you?" He asked, face grave. "Let me help.... Let's work together before it's too late, and get ourselves prepared for the inevitable."  
  
Dr. Light stared at Forte in severe shock. How could he have known about X unless he really had stolen the plans? If that was true, then.... The thought was overwhelming, and Light gave a soft groan, letting his face drop in his hand. "If he does that..... He has no idea.." He stared at Forte rather calmly considering the situation. "This robot.. must incubate for several years before it is ready to face the real world. If Wily were to activate a copy of mine, it would go berserk. It would..... Oh, this is terrible!" He moaned. What could he do? "How do I know I can trust you?  
  
Forte grimaced. "You...can't know. Hell, I don't know if I can trust me." He looked at Light. "But can you afford not to? I'm the only one here who can get into Wily's lab, maybe do something to stop him from being completely effective in building that beserker."  
  
Blues nodded. "We don't really have much choice, dad." A sigh. "We have to do something. Anything. If the damn thing does go berserk, though, uh..." He shifted, starting to get a little nervous. "Just how bad would it be?"  
  
Dr. Light didn't answer for a minute. He wasn't sure if it would be good to tell them this, but... "If it was based on this design, with weapons, and designed by Wily at that...." He tried to think of something suitable to compare it to. "We might as well be dead right now. Unless we do something, you're right." He sighed heavily, feeling older than ever. "I will have to design some weapons, you're right." But that was so much work....he glanced at Rock. "Rock...I can't do all of the building alone and do more designing." That was what he'd built Rock for, after all, wasn't it? To help him when he was working in the lab? Why hadn't he used him sooner?  
  
Rock stared, wide-eyed. "Yes sir."  
  
Rock was practically in shock. All these months of neglect, after everything he'd done to try and get the man's attention.. Dr. Light had come to him. For help too. He was still useful to him. He felt tears begin to well up in his eyes, and ran over to the door to the room he knew his new sibling was being built in. "I'll go work on him now, if you let me in." he whispered, as though scared Dr. Light might suddenly change his mind and tell him to leave. "I'll do my best... dad."  
  
The old man hobbled over to him slowly, his back was getting bad, these days, and keyed in the passcode, opening the door for Rock. "Alright... everything's down there, in blueprint form. Just keep doing what it says." He patted Rock's head idly, looking back at Blues and Forte. "If you could help your brother..." He indirectly asked Blues, who gave a small nod, "Then perhaps our little friend here could help me out with the offensive gear. I never was good at that." This, of course, was an understatement, and he figured of the three of them, Forte would be the best to seek help from on this issue, with how militent his household was.  
  
Forte simply stared at the old man, eyes wide. Light wanted help from him? He'd been built by Wily, and the man still didn't trust him that much. "Sure." He shrugged, not sure how to take the situation. How could Rock's family be so.... nice? He stole a glance at Rock, to see if there was anything close to forgiveness in his eyes, but the boy had already disappeared into the room with his brother, and the door slid shut.  
  
Light sat back down at his desk, and pulled up a chair for Forte, to let him sit next to himself. "I'll have Roll make more coffee. It seems we're going to have some late nights ahead of us."  
  
--------------------  
  
Forte wondered how the hell Dr. Light did it. He found himself with a newfound respect for the doctor's tremendous amount of work...and a newfound appreciation for strong black coffee. Even then, caffienated and much better functioning than the old human, he found himself falling asleep at his work and waking up later in a bed. He wondered who was carrying him back every time that happened...probably Blues, since Rock was still mildly upset and Light was too busy. Crap, how did that old guy manage?  
  
He was poring over the design for the buster for the millionth time when Dr. Light brought it up. "And how do you think Dr. Wily will have progressed now?"  
  
Forte thought about that. Wily put just as much time and effort into his robotics...but at the same time, he was also working alone. He shrugged. "Probably fairly far behind our work...but you have to remember that he cares a lot less about the conscience than you, so the programming will be a lot less tight...and the weaponry was probably already designed, just waiting for the right robot. So maybe not that far at all. We'll be done way before him, though."  
  
"...Blues was suggesting you go and check." Dr. Light looked up from the plans he was going over. "Do you think you would be allowed into the lab?" Forte shrugged. He could try.... "..Do you think you would be able to alter anything?" That was odd...he could have sworn Light was suggesting sabotage. Something Forte was infinitely willing to do.  
  
Forte couldn't help a small grin. "It'd be my pleasure. I'll show that old bastard who's fucking useless." He ignored the look Light gave him at his tasteless choice of words, and got up, calling his armor on. "I might even take a look at the weaponry he's got, while I'm there. Can't hurt us any." With a small nod, he walked out of the lab, and made his way to the back door, intending to leave. He stopped suddenly, however.  
  
Rock was leaned up against the back door, staring at him sadly. "Blues said you're leaving... Are you?" Forte nodded slightly, avoiding the boy's eye. Rock held his position, grabbing Forte's wrist and he reached for the door handle. "He says you're gonna go spy for us, and make sure Wily doesn't win. He says it's going to be dangerous."  
  
Forte kept his gaze far from Rock, even when he heard soft sobs come from the boy. This was the last thing he needed right now. What was he supposed to say, why couldn't Rock just let him pass? He was well aware of how the boy now felt toward him, and he wanted nothing more than leave, to get away from the horrible guilt that smothered him whenever he looked into Rock's eyes.  
  
Rock gripped Forte's wrist tighter, gazing at him pleadingly. "Please don't go.." he begged softly. "Don't go, it's too dangerous! I'm sorry! I... I shouldn't have treated you so badly when you told me everything. Please don't leave me! I don't want anything bad to hap-mmf!"  
  
Forte was now holding Rock's hand softly, lips crushed against the smaller bot's, kissing him slowly. Finally, they broke apart, and Forte eased Rock to the side gently. "Apology accepted." He smiled a genuine smile at Rock, then opened the door and left, doing his best to ignore the longing looks Rock directed at his back. He would have loved for nothing more than to tell Rock that he would be back soon, that everything would be alright, but he just... Couldn't. Just in case.  
  
Once he hit the road at the end of the Light's household, he took a deep breath, and grin. "That's twice more than you, Blues!!" He shouted, grinning to himself. He knew Blues, and was sure he had been spying on them. He continued, suddenly feeling light as air, more carefree then he had in awhile. "Catch up if you can!" He laughed loudly, stretching his arms and legs, and teleported, suddenly feeling invincible.  
  
It was this mind-set that was bound to get him into trouble.  
  
----------------------------  
  
End Chapter Four.  
  
Ending Author's Notes: We think it's obvious where we're headed with this, so let us just say it's Shibby's fault. She loves the angst so very much and probably accidentally coerced Gimp666 to go along with it. Erm. ..We hope you'll enjoy how this progresses, though.  
  
Review. We love the reviews. 


	5. Chapter Five

Nuts and Bolts Chapter Five  
  
Author's Notes: Mostly filler, this chapter. LOTS of stuff starts happening soon, though. ^_^;;; We assure you. Review. We need them to replace the ones we lost.  
  
-----------------------  
  
The base looked horrible compared to what Forte was now used to. He'd been gone for how long now? Months? And it had gotten blasted in several places, nobody willing to repair it from the fights between robot masters. And Wily would have been damned busy on the new robot...wonder what he'd named it? Forte shrugged, walking calmly through the hallways and seeing no sign of the usual robot wanderings. Where was everyone?  
  
Ah. Yes, he'd forgotten that they sometimes did that. He stared into the giant room he'd just walked into, striding confidently through the mob, circled around a pair of robots fighting each other. Had he actually watched that, back before he worked for Light? Forte shook his head in disgust. He was going soft...but at least the people here still feared him. He glanced around, noting with a swell of pride that they still backed the hell away from him. Good. Some things never changed.  
  
And then it was Wily's lab. Dark as hell. He stopped himself before he knocked the door - he had never knocked before, and Wily would start to wonder like the paranoid bastard he was - and barged in. "Yo! Old guy! What's going on in here?" He glanced around, preparing a good web of lies to spin. "I haven't gotten any orders from you in a hell of a while and I've got nothing to do but try and kill Rock." Well, that was true, if you replaced the word 'kill' with 'make friends with' or possibly 'kiss'. He wandered deeper into the lab, staring at the worse-than-usual disarray spread around, metal and wires and screens of programming.  
  
"What do you want, failure?" Wily muttered, bent over a table with a set of blueprints in his hands. "I'm busy on my best creation yet. So much better than you. Rest assured you couldn't even scratch him if you fought."  
  
Forte stared at the body on the table, and couldn't help the next words that popped out of his mouth. "What's with the hair?"  
  
God, Wily's creation was so....! He lifted a strand, inspecting it curiously, then glanced over at some blueprints. Huh. Not compensating for anything, if the scale on that damn diagram was the actual one.... "Don't you think it makes him.. you did say him, yes?" A glare. "Ah. well, don't you think it makes him look just a little on the girly side?" He smirked, poking at this and that with mild curiosity. "Place looks real nice, Wily. Going for that Swiss cheese motif?" He could tell he was agitating the doctor, and knew damned well that if he kept doing it, Wily would leave, to get away from him momentarily. "And that wonderful stench. Is that you or them?"  
  
Wily simply rolled his eyes, and wandered across the room, staring at information pouring in on a screen. "Get lost, you useless piece of trash, I've no use for you right now. Why don't you go do something helpful, like run yourself through a trash compactor." He slowed the line of code down, narrowing his eyes. Forte knew what he was staring at, Light had caught that bug weeks ago.  
  
"Maybe I will, later..." He smirked, this was the chance he had been waiting for. Slowly, he reached into the robot's chest and began swapping chips, disarranging wires, and destroying small pieces Wily wouldn't notice for weeks in advance. "So..... What's his name?" He had to keep Wily talking, otherwise he might turn around and come back.  
  
"Name?" Wily laughed in amusement. "You think I bothered naming him already? What does it matter? I'll probably throw one together at the last minute, like I did with you." He shot Forte a nasty grin- Then stopped cold. Forte had his hand deep into his robot's chest, and judging by the look on his face, he was up to no good. "What are you doing?!" He made a mad dash for Forte, who was staring wide eyed, and tried to corner him.  
  
Forte slipped by him quickly, mashing keys randomly on the keyboard and messing with the new robot's coding, then ran like all hell out of the room. He made it three feet, before finding himself completely surrounded by Robot Masters. "Typical... Completely useless any time I could use their assistance, but the second they're after me, they're competent." He grinned, despite the fact that his body was rigid with fear. This was it for him.  
  
There were far too many for him to deal with alone, he couldn't teleport within the fortress, and they were so tightly closed around him, he couldn't even begin to fight. This didn't bode well for him. Forte knew what the Robot Masters did to each other in their spare time, and he couldn't see them treating a traitor any better. He was never going to see Rock again. He found he couldn't stop grinning, however. He had done what he'd come for, and that had to count for something. He wished he could see the boy, to apologize for not making it back to him. "Well, let's get this over with..." He laughed.  
  
-----------  
  
Rock paced the lab. Forte had been gone for over 12 hours, when the job should have taken him, an hour, two tops to complete. Something had gone wrong. Wringing his hands, he looked over at Blues for what had to be the 80th time that evening, ready for another reassuring smile from him, but this time he found none. His brother looked just as distraught.  
  
Blues took it upon himself to state the obvious. "He's in trouble." A sigh. "And we will do something, Rock. Don't worry about that." The boy's expression had turned panicked for a second, but now with a mission he looked determined. "We'll let Dr. Light know, and then we can go. And don't look like that, we have to tell him...just in case we can't help with the work on X anymore."  
  
Rock nodded, wringing his hands. "I'm just so worried...he might be dead, Blues!" He stared at his brother beseechingly, hoping against hope that Blues would tell him that everything would be alright. "What will we do then?"  
  
Rubbing at his temples, Blues shrugged. "Nothing we can do but hope."  
  
-----------  
  
It hurt like hell. Forte groaned. He rolled from his back to his side, staring hopelessly at the floor. He'd be killed soon, but right now...another kick to his ribs, someone else planting a foot in his back. The robot masters had a chance for revenge for all the times he'd beaten them, and they were taking complete advantage of that. Wily had watched for a while, then stormed off to work on that stupid blonde 'bot of his. At least he'd slowed him down...though Forte wished he could have done something more, like screw with the construction so that the bot was completely useless instead of just in need of repairs.  
  
Another kick, this time to the face, and Forte gagged on some of his own blood.  
  
Tilting his head upward, he coughed, spraying blood onto the floor, then shut his eyes, grunting as someone kicked him hard in the stomach. Forte gave a small shudder- It seemed like his torture was going to end. Someone grabbed a handful of his hair and pulled him to a sitting position. He squeezed his eyes shut, awaiting another blow to his head, then felt his face redden hearing a slight jingling sound. Shit, they were going to do that too? Whatever. He didn't care anymore. He hurt everywhere, ready to pass out. "I'm coming back, just to kill the lot of you.." He groaned, voice broken and raspy. The grip on his hair tightened, and he lay there, anticipating the worst.  
  
There was a loud crack, and a sizzle, then his hair was released and a heavy form landed limply on top of him. "Forte!!!" A very familiar voice cried, and Forte knew exactly what happened. Rock had come for him. "You're hurt!!" Rock pulled the robot master aside, more shots firing off behind him- Blues must have tagged along-and lifted his head, resting it in his lap.  
  
Forte turned his head slightly, burying his face into Rock's armored thigh, and coughed in response, blood leaking onto his leg. "What the h-hell are...." He shuddered, trailing off, then felt everything begin to fade. Fuck! Why had Rock come for him? What was he, crazy? He should have left Forte to his fate so they could finish up on that robot. "...sentimental bastard." A hand ran though his hair smoothly, and he realized he must have said that out loud. Forcing his eyes open, he stared up at his rescuers, eyes dull. "... I'm just going to sleep a little.... I'm.... I'm t- tired...." Everything went black.  
  
Rock looked up at Blues helplessly, who simply shrugged, smirking. "Guess I have to carry him then." He scanned the room, surveying the damage they had caused, then sighed. "They'll be onto us now. I'm sure Wily knows we're here. We'd better leave, Rock. He began to count in his head. So far they had taken down 14 Robot masters since they'd arrived. That still left....  
  
"There's still a lot of them left." Rock answered for him, then lifted Forte up slightly, resting him on Blues' back, sliding Blues' shield over his exposed back. He stole a glance out into the hall, to see if they could escape that way. The bodies of the robot masters they'd taken down were still laying there. "Let's go! They must not realize we're here yet!" Rock whispered.  
  
Blues smirked, then walked over to him and rest a hand on Rock's helmeted head. "Ever the optimist, Rock." He stared down the hall. It sure seemed that way, but..... "Somehow I doubt Wily doesn't know we're here. He may be a little senile, but he's not stupid. There's too much tension down there, you can practically feel it. I think it's a trap." He looked around the room slowly. "There, that door." He opened it, glancing down a different hall, one they hadn't taken. "Let's take this way. He'll be expecting us to take the same way."  
  
Rock followed him, smiling admiringly, and nodded. "Okay. I'd rather not fight anymore." Blues simply sighed deeply, knowing Rock wasn't going to get his wish.  
  
----------  
  
They dashed through the hallway, and it was eerily vacant of robots. This...did not bode well. Blues glanced over at Rock, shifting Forte around on his back. "Where the hell are they?" He muttered, watching Rock dash ahead of him. Damn, Forte was heavy. He grunted, running faster to catch up with his brother. Nothing, nobody....crap, this was bad. Strange how he panicked when there was no threat but was fine when something was happening...And this was proved when they turned a corner and literally ran into a large group of robot masters. So they'd been setting up a trap...  
  
Rock grinned at the imposing figure he'd run into. "Uh. Sorry?" He scrambled up, firing a few shots as Blues dashed around him to back him up.  
  
"Crap!" Blues yelped, glancing at another hallway as some more robot masters filed in. That made...seven against two, and he was carrying Forte. They weren't going to get out of this unscathed. "...I say we run like hell now."  
  
----------  
  
Forte moaned softly in pain, stirring at the sound of Rock's blaster. Turning his head, he stared at the robot masters coming from several directions. "Fuck... can I go back to sleep now?" He really didn't want to see that just as he woke up. "What are you guys doing? they're going to corner you. Turn left, go in that room." He struggled to stay conscious, wanting to continue giving them directions, but his lids felt so heavy.  
  
Rock held off the robot masters as Blues ran into the room with Forte, then followed, bringing up the rear. Slamming the door behind him and sealing it shut, he looked around. "Wow, Forte...... What is this place?" It was a room of... Rooms. Or halls.. He wasn't sure. There seemed to be a door every two feet. Forte muttered a few more instructions, semi coherent, then passed out again. "Forte...?" He sighed, then walked up to the second door on the left, as much as he had understood. Opening the door, they walked into a small dark room.  
  
Blues followed him, looking around slowly. "... What the- Why the hell would he drag us in here?" Locking the door behind him, he began to look around at the various monitors, and contraptions. "There must be something to help us out here." Flicking on the lights, it looked about the same as any other room in the fortress. "What's so special about this place?"  
  
Rock stood in the center of the room, staring at the floor. There was a box painted around their feet. "Maybe....." Rock began to check stats on the room. "Maybe we can teleport in here or something... It's gotta be that, there's no way out of here!"  
  
Blues shrugged. "It's worth a try..." There was a pounding of feet coming from the hallways behind them. "Crap, let's hurry." He shuffled over to his brother, tugging Forte along with him.  
  
When the robot masters opened the door, there was nobody there.  
  
---------  
  
Rock panted heavily, slumping to the ground outside of Dr. Light's house. "I can't believe we made it..." His words trailed off, and he struggled up to grab Forte from Blues. "We have to help him! He's hurt!" Rock gave Forte a few experimental tugs, finding the bioroid heavier than he thought. Blues sighed, grabbing Forte and helping his brother carry his burden. "...thanks." Now they just had to repair him...which would take more time than Rock was willing to think about. But it would be worth it. Forte was his friend. He smiled at Blues, walking slowly over to the house with him.  
  
------------  
  
He wasn't dead.  
  
...He wasn't dead? Forte's eyes shot open, and he blinked and yelled, surprised, at seeing Dr. Light hovering above him. "Shit, don't scare me like that." He mumbled, sitting up.  
  
He rubbed his head, looking around the room slowly as Dr. Light chuckled softly. "How long've I been out?" He mumbled, as Light pushed him back down slowly. "Did you repair me..?"  
  
"Now, hold still. You're not done yet, and you're going to damage yourself further." Dr. Light chided, setting back to work. "You've been out for two days. It wouldn't have taken this long to repair you, but there are several variations in your make up from Rock's."  
  
Forte stared at him blankly. "Not done yet? But. I feel fine." He stole a glance down, and was surprised to see his insides, as he was still opened up. "I don't feel anything." He muttered, giving his frame a testing poke. Nothing, no feeling at all. He let Dr. Light shift his hand away gently, then sighed, staring up at him. "What's going on..?"  
  
Dr. Light smiled faintly and continued his work. "I turned off your pain receptors. For some reason, Wily didn't design anything to shut down your pain reception, so I had to program something before I could do so." Seeing Forte's eyes widen, he quickly added, "I assure you, I didn't touch your programming other than that. I just didn't want you to boot up again half way through your repairs and wake up screaming in pain."  
  
Forte stared at him quizzically. There was a way to turn off the pain? All this time Wily had repaired him as he held his breath and bit his lip, and there was a way to stop it? "What a bastard.." He growled lowly, staring up at the ceiling dully. "Wily told me there wasn't a way to turn that off, and that the pain was good for me." He shot him a weak grin and shrugged slightly.  
  
He stared at Light, feeling there was something missing, something he should say, yet he wasn't sure what. Certainly not a 'thank you', it was the man's own choice, repairing him. "Sorry. For everything." He finally forced out of his mouth. Damn, he hated apologizing.  
  
Dr. Light pat his shoulder- Even though he didn't feel it. "You should get some rest. We've got lots to do when you're up and going again." Forte nodded, and Light continued long after the boy passed out again.  
  
----------  
  
Rock caught himself staring at the clock more and more as the hours passed. He was doing his best with X, but the work was so time consuming, and he found everything to have meticulous detail. No wonder his father had been so busy. And Forte still wasn't repaired- Something that worried him  
  
"What's taking them so long?" He asked Blues, setting his tools down and looking over at him timidly. Blues looked. Well, exhausted. Even his shades could no longer hide this fact- Blues had been up almost the entire time. He had been so busy putting everyone else to bed when they dozed off that he'd hardly slept himself. Rock knew better than to bring this up with him, however..  
  
"I don't think we can keep up like this..." Rock muttered. Blues looked up. "I mean, look at us. We're exhausted. I don't see how dad does it because...well...we need a break." He sighed. "But how the heck are we supposed to ask for that? This is important!" Rock stared at the tools he'd set down. Blues especially needed to rest, and Rock was going to make sure he did in one way or another.  
  
Silence. The door to the lab opened, and Dr. Light walked slowly inside. Rock perked up, smiled, and went right back to work. He wasn't going to disappoint his father if he could ever help it. But still... "How's Forte doing?" Blues asked, saving Rock from having to inquire. "He was pretty bad..."  
  
"He'll be fine...he's just resting." Dr. Light yawned. "We're all tired. Don't look at me like that, Blues, you are too though you won't admit it." A sigh. "I think...you two should go get some rest. I can keep working." Rock opened his mouth, about to protest even though that was what he had been postulating earlier. "No, Rock. You especially. There's some extremely delicate work ahead of us...." He coughed. "Erm. And for some of it I.....don't suggest you ask too many questions." Blues raised an eyebrow. He could only guess what that meant and none of it was very good for poor, innocent Rock. "Anyway. Off you two go. I'll stay here and work."  
  
"But you need sleep too!" Rock protested, but was quickly hustled off by Blues to his room. No point in trying to stop Light. He was a bit of a workaholic.  
  
-----------  
  
Rock glanced up at Blues as they walked, smiling up at him innocently as if asking what Dr. Light was referring to. He could tell he wasn't going to get any answers out of his brother, however. Blues walked into Rock's bedroom, then pulled the covers back and helped his brother slide in, covering him with the blanket. Rock smiled, feeling the fringe brush against his cheek lightly. He felt the covers shift slightly as Blues crawled in next to him, then nuzzled him gently as Blues wrapped an arm around him. "Night, Blues..." He whispered, yawning softly.  
  
"Go to sleep, Rock..." Blues murmured, feeling Rock squirm, trying to get comfortable. He sighed softly. Rock was restless, and couldn't fall asleep, despite how obviously exhausted he was. This could only mean one thing- Something was bothering him, it wasn't going to be something good, and Rock was going to cry. Damn the kid was sensitive.  
  
Rock fought with the blankets to find somewhere warm, somewhere comfortable, somewhere his mind would finally rest. Slowly, he turned, facing Blues, and whispered softly. "Blues... Are you awake?" Blues gave a small grunt in reply, and Rock continued. "... We're going to die, aren't we?" His tone was flat, his face grave.  
  
This shook Blues right out of the half sleep he had been in. "Uh.. what? He rubbed his face wearily. "Rock, we're not..." He trailed off, staring into those dead, serious eyes. There was no way he could lie to Rock with a face like that. "It's a possibility..." He sighed softly, rubbing Rock's back slowly. "It's always been a possibility." He felt Rock's body shake lightly, against him, and hugged him tight.  
  
"I.... I don't want to die!!" Rock burst out with suddenly. "I like being alive! I like functioning! I don't want to lose that!" He began to cry softly, fearing for his life for the first time since he could remember. Everything until this point had been somewhat of a game. Wily sent Robot Masters- Rock defeated said Robot Masters. No one ever got hurt, not really, not irreparably. He felt Blues' hand grip his chin softly, forcing him to look up and he obliged, staring up at him with watery eyes.  
  
Blues sighed softly, wiping the trails of tears away with his thumbs, and smiled sadly. "Rock.. If something happens, I promise I'll go before you, okay? I'd rather die keeping you alive." He kissed the trembling boy's forehead softly. "You just do your best to keep Dr. Light alive, okay?" Rock nodded slowly, tears flowing twice as fast, and he held him close. "Please don't cry... Rock... Just get some rest, okay? We all need it, and nothing's going to happen.." Already Rock's sobbing had begun to dissipate, and he clung to his brother's shirt, drifting off despite everything.  
  
-----------------------  
  
Ending Author's Notes: Well. Yay for future happenings. Next chapter has amusement and some pretty morbid stuff. Yay for contrast as well!  
  
....We got booted and have no reviews anymore. ;_; Help us replace them? Pwease? 


	6. Chapter Six

Nuts and Bolts Chapter 6  
  
Author's Notes: Lots of random stupid humor in this chapter. Behold our perverted and random senses of humor! Yeah. Consider it something to make up for all the angst soon. ^^; *cough* o.o;  
  
-----------------------  
  
Blues lay staring at the ceiling silently. He was so damned exhausted, yet he couldn't rest now, not after what Rock had said. He'd never really thought about dying. He knew he was old, and that his body was going to wear away and shut down on him one day, but that had always seemed so far off. He'd never really found any of Wily's creations to be a true threat- Even Forte. A bit immoral, and perhaps a bit of a danger to Rock, but not really a threat. But now... He knew this new robot of Wily's was going to be a completely different story, something which worried him.  
  
"Hey... Room for one more?" Forte asked sleepily, leaning against the doorway and rubbing his eye tiredly. "I don't mind sleeping on the lab table, but...." Damn, why had he come here? He sounded so weak that he suddenly wanted to turn tail and run back out of the room. "I mean.. I thought maybe.. you could use the company..." He trailed off as Blues pat the mattress beside him and couldn't resist a slight smile, making his way slowly over to the bed. Something had happened to him over the past month, Rock and Blues made him feel so strange. So.. wanted? He wasn't really sure what the feeling was, but it was a pleasant one.  
  
"So....do you trust me?" Forte asked. He snuggled up closer to the two of them, disregarding his pride for the moment to answer the one question burning in his mind. He was right next to them, damnit, and if he so chose he could have attacked the both of them and caused significant damage, if not killed them both right away. Surely that meant something....?  
  
Blues shrugged. "Gee. I wonder about that." He looked at Forte significantly. "Because it makes me so very not suspicious of your motives when I see your lips glued to Rock's out the window."  
  
Forte grinned. "Twice more than you, still." He chuckled, then quieted down as Rock stirred slightly. "Really, Blues...you're going to have to do something before we all kick the bucket." He got a grunt for that comment, and sighing, he fell asleep. Rest was needed if they wanted to put off dying a little more.  
  
----------------  
  
"Dr. Light! I'm here to help with whatever you want to work on!" Rock chirped, feeling well-rested and content. He had woken up surrounded by Forte and Blues' arms, and the warm contentment of the morning had made him comforted and pleased. He had put the inevitable out of his head for a while, and was ready to work on X some more. "What are we doing today?"  
  
"Ah...Rock." Light walked out of a dark room connected to a lab. "Once again, I have to ask you to please not ask too many questions about this part. We're....well. We're making X anatomically correct, and this is very delicate work..." He coughed, face turning slightly pink. "So I will need your skills to do this. I might do something unfortunate with these old bones."  
  
"Alright!" Rock cocked his head. "What is that, though? Am I like that?"  
  
".....yes, Rock, you are." Dr. Light's face was red. "But this is a little different. Now, if you'll just come with me...and please. No questions."  
  
Rock gave a mental shrug and followed his creator into the lab, settling down by him and stared at the page of blueprints open over X. "Oh, it's a penis!" Rock exclaimed happily. He knew what that was. He had one too. At least he was working on familiar ground-something which pleased him greatly. It was easier to work with something he understood. Well... Sort of. He still wasn't sure what it was for, at least on robots. As far as he knew, it was just something boys had.  
  
"So, we're going to build the penis?" He asked curiously, and Dr. Light turned an even brighter shade of red. He sputtered out instructions to Rock, something which confused the boy- the doctor had never had a speech problem as far as he knew- then exited the room as quickly as possible.  
  
--------------------  
  
The next couple days were filled with Rock staring at the plans then back to the actual appendage itself, working meticulously. Forte popped in from time to time and made bizarre jokes Rock didn't understand, only to be chased away by Blues within moments. He could tell their fighting was only play, however. They seemed to be getting along a lot better, something which made Rock even happier.  
  
Rock gave a contented sigh, carefully attaching wires from X's penis to the rest of his anatomy. Somehow, despite the fact that they had their lives on the line, almost guaranteed horrible deaths... Rock felt lighter. His dad was talking to him again, he didn't have to fight Forte anymore- they were even friends, and his brother was getting along with his new friend. He found he couldn't even bring himself to hate X anymore- Rather, he hoped to live long enough to actually meet him.  
  
"Looks like you're almost done with that." Blues stated suddenly, looking up from the chip he was fusing to a circuitboard. "You must be relieved." He smiled at him, standing up and walking over to admire Rock's work. Wow. Blues found he couldn't stop staring. "He's. ah.. well, he's really anatomically correct." He sputtered- why was everyone so tongue tied?- as he double-checked the plans to make sure Rock hadn't messed up the scale. Nope. The scale read 5:1, and Rock's work looked rather... accurate. Damn, what was Dr. Light thinking when he designed that?  
  
"Why would I be relieved?" Rock asked curiously. Why was this appendage so important? He gave a small giggle. "Yeah, he is really anatomically correct!" He exclaimed, pointing to the patch of hair X was sporting below the belt. He assumed this was what Blues spoke of, after all Rock didn't have hair down there. He'd even checked to make sure.  
  
Blues stared at him incredulously for several seconds before breaking down into a rather loud fit of laughter. "Rock... You..... Get over here!" He put Rock into a headlock, and the two scuffled for a few moments, thoroughly delighting the boy. Rock hadn't rough housed with his brother in ages.  
  
Forte popped his head in the door again, fully intending to make another lewd comment and get another confused look from Rock, and rolled his eyes when he saw Blues and Rock nearly wrestling on the floor, Rock giggling constantly and a grin on Blues' face. "My, my. What's going on here?" Rock sat up and waved at Forte. Blues surprisingly didn't look upset either. Damn. They were in a good mood, so no taunting...but at least there wasn't all that damn tension that had been lingering around for days.  
  
He raised an eyebrow. "Hello, what's this?" Forte said, wandering over to stare at the finished job. Woah. No wonder Dr. Light was embarrassed. "He's really...yeah." Blues nodded, and Rock looked confused. "Lucky bastard Rock gets to work on him and we miss out on the fun, ne, Blues?" Rock looked even more confused, and Blues turned slightly pink and nodded, a smile on his face.  
  
"Probably why he made Rock do it, Forte. You pervert."  
  
"Hey!" Forte walked over and gave Blues a playful shove. "You would have done the same as me. Taking a freakin' job in a strip club." He was shoved back, and soon the three 'bots were tussling on the floor, interrupted only when Dr. Light wandered back in the room.  
  
The Doctor raised an eyebrow. "If you three are done fooling around, I have some diagnostic tests to run." He smiled slightly, pointedly not looking at X's body on the table. "Say, Forte, weren't you working on the armor?"  
  
Forte pulled himself up off of Blues, who in turn was half on Rock and gave Dr. Light a sarcastic grin. "Yeah, I was. I'm finished now, threw your plans into the trash." He smirked at Dr. Light's stunned expression, and continued. "I mean really, old man, who taught you how to design that crap? Look at Rock and Blues. One good hit to the chest, and they're toast. No protection at all. So I took my armor, found a design less tacky, and gave the guy some real protection." He tapped his chest, to indicate what he was referring to.  
  
Dr. Light smiled slightly and shook his head. Forte could be rather rude in making his point, but he was right. Armor was not Light's area of expertise. He'd designed all his robots to enjoy a peaceful and tranquil life- Not war after war. "Well, as uh.. nice as the thought was behind what you did, you really should show me what you're going to do before doing it, Forte. Still, let's have a look at your armor, and see how it turned out." He smiled and allowed Forte to lead him out of the room.  
  
Rock stared after them, then giggled and collapsed back down from the position he'd been in. "Guess we kinda forgot ourselves, huh? At least nothing got broken." He allowed Blues to help him to his feet, and smiled. "Come on, let's go run those diagnostics with dad!" He grabbed Blues' hand and dragged him out of the room.  
  
-------------------  
  
Dr. Light was huddled around several sets of armor Forte had designed, and found there wasn't one he could disprove. "Excellent, Forte. However, one set of armor really would have sufficed."  
  
Forte smiled, really liking this compliment thing, and quickly explained. "Every piece has different abilities and strengths. I figure if Wily doesn't fight fairly, and builds robot after robot with different powers, we could one up him and build different suits that do the same thing...." He trailed off, rubbing the back of his head. "Well.. unless you think it's a bad idea. I mean, I was just-"  
  
Dr. Light pat him on the back encouragingly. "It's a great idea. We'll.. just have to figure out where to put them all." Turning to Rock and Blues, he waved the two of them over, then led everyone to a small computer monitor. "Alright, let's get these tests done with." He pressed a few keys, and several lines of information began racing across the screen.  
  
"Dad?" Rock interrupted with, eyes still locked on the monitor. "Did you see X's penis?" He smiled happily as Blues and Forte covered their mouths, snickering, and Dr. Light coughed loudly.  
  
"Yes... ahh.. good job, Rock." He finally managed, face bright shades of red.  
  
-------------------  
  
Rock smiled happily, eating the cookies Roll had brought them happily. "I luff it whehn theyhr stiill hot!" He exclaimed, mouth full. He was tired again, it had been three days since they'd last rested. Yet Dr. Light still slept the least of them all, working relentlessly.  
  
"I'm worried about Dad, though..." He said, stuffing another cookie in his mouth. "W're n't slpng." He swallowed, looking at Blues and Forte. "I mean...we have to be way ahead of Wily, right? The four of us with just him?" He looked over at Forte. "What do you think?"  
  
Forte shrugged. "I don't know. Probably, but he actually works faster than you think...." He thought about what he'd seen last time he went to the lab. "Heh. He has this freakin' girly-bot, tons of blonde hair, probably going to be a bloody sex toy for him on the side." Blues made a face. Rock looked confused. "But if we're lucky, and the 'bot goes berserk, he might end up killing Wily and give us enough warning to get stuff in order. I don't think Wily would just sit idly by while it goes after him; there'll be some sign."  
  
Blues shook his head. "That's just so wrong." He looked up at Forte warningly. "Forget the sextoy thing, pervert. But to think that we're most likely going to end up using Wily's death as a sort of alarm...it's kind of morbid, don't you think?"  
  
A shrug. "Not like I give a fuck about the old bastard." Forte sighed. "All the same...we might want to start thinking about defense. What we're going to do. X isn't going to come to our rescue, you know, what with the testing Light wants to do. Any ideas?"  
  
Rock refrained from commenting on what Forte said about Wily. He'd hate for the man to be killed, as awful a person he was, yet he knew that Wily had given Forte a hard life. "Yeah... We need to find somewhere to protect ourselves and X... Maybe we can hide him." He spoke up with, finishing his cookie. "If he can't find X he can't kill him!"  
  
Forte rolled his eyes. "Oh, and it'd be so easy to hide that capsule, with all the power running into it." He laughed bitterly, reaching for a cookie. "We're better off hiding like ostriches!" Blues started when Forte said that, and reached out, grabbing his hand quickly.  
  
"Wait, what?" Forte stared back at him and his eyes lit up suddenly. The two glanced over at their partner quickly, sighing at the boy, whose mouth was chock full of cookie. "Rock.... Are you thinking what we're thinking?" Blues pushed, grinning. It was perfect. They could run electricity through the floors into.... it just might work!  
  
Rock continued to stare blankly. "No. Sticking our heads in the ground isn't going to help us hide. Why don't we just build some stuff under the ground instead? It'd be a lot easier to hide if he couldn't see our bodies." He smiled at them sweetly, taking a gulp of his milk, and Blues suddenly found himself wondering if the old man had forgotten one of Rock's installation disks.  
  
-------------------  
  
"Ugh....." Forte grunted, rolling over onto his side. They were on the floor with an enormous piece of paper, drawing up blueprints for a secret lab, to be hidden far beneath ground level. The damned thing had been a pain from the start. First they had to find a depth far enough to be undetectable. Then they had to figure out a way to build it, without collapsing the house in the meantime. Finally, they settled on a method for that.  
  
Next came the building material. Dr. Light, as it turned out, was rather well off, so buying the materials had been no problem, it was getting them from point A to point B that gave them trouble. They were far stronger than humans, especially in their armor, but Rock, Blues and Forte were still only able to handle so much weight. They now worked on X's room itself, which was on its 14th revision. It was taking so much time; too much time, really. By now it had already been nearly two years since Forte defected, and there was no end to the work in sight, especially with this new project added on. "We really don't have time for this crap." Blues mumbled in agreement with Forte's groans. "We're seriously running out of time. Wily doesn't have to worry about all this. He just needs to build the robot itself."  
  
"Why don't we slow him down some more?" Rock offered, smiling.  
  
"I'd hate to shoot you down, but I'm sure he's increased security tenfold after last time." Forte sighed, stretching onto his back and pushing Rock over onto his side with his foot, receiving a small giggle. "What do you think, Blues? Can we pull it off in time, or do we risk going back there?"  
  
There was a long moment of silent thought as Blues considered it. "....I think we might have to risk it..." He said finally. "It's more dangerous than I'd like...but it's true, we do have this to work on, and a bunch of other defenses we might want. It wouldn't be bad to keep ourselves alive for a little while longer." He shook his head, noting how all of them were automatically assuming they were going to die. Surely they hadn't gotten that pessimistic? They were screwing themselves over by doing that. "We could corrupt Wily's computers...but one of us is going to have to stay here to help Dr. Light. He can't do this alone." Both him and Forte looked at Rock.  
  
"Hey!" Rock began to pout. "Why do I have to stay behind?" Both his friend and his brother glared at him. "...fine." He let his head sink to the floor. "I...guess someone has to stay behind, just in case...." He trailed off. "Go tell Dr. Light, then. I'll keep working."  
  
----------------------  
  
"This is so stupid." Forte growled, dashing through the hallways. "Be the distraction for Wily and the others, he says. Keep everyone busy, he says. Fuck, where the hell is that bastard Blues anyway?" He ran around another corner, hoping like hell that Blues was getting his shit done.  
  
Blues, meanwhile, was in Wily's lab, working hurriedly before the doctor returned and he had to leave. He glanced over his shoulder at the motionless, near-complete body of the nameless robot. It was creepy as hell, and he half-expected the blonde to open his eyes and grab him as he uploaded the virus to Wily's computers. It was just something simple, to keep him busy for another month or two. Physical damage to the robot would do nothing. Wily had replacement parts all over, and he'd be back on track in days if Blues wasted his time smashing things.  
  
"There," He muttered, grabbing his shield, and he was just about to get the hell out when he noticed the robot's programming scrolling across a screen across the room. ...Maybe he could take another couple of minutes...  
  
-----------------------  
  
Forte dodged several shots at his feet, returning fire, then turned a sharp left, punching in the code to open the door there. Shit! Maybe he was making too good of a distraction.  
  
"Fuck!!" He growled loudly, punching in random codes, one after another. That bastard had changed the combinations. He'd probably been anticipating something like this from the start!  
  
A shot grazed his cheek and he dodged instinctively. He was cornered, he had been relying completely on this door being able to open. He began to punch codes faster and faster, dodging whatever shots were fired at him. God, those twats needed some serious training. They couldn't hit the broad sign of a barn. His smirk died instantly as a shot hit the back of his chestplate, scorching it. "Okay, now I'm mad!" He yelled, then kicked the door. "Open goddamnit!!" He heard more shots being fired, none of them coming close to hitting him, then suddenly a body was pressed against his and an arm snaked out, punching a code into the box.  
  
"Nice distraction." Blues smirked, resting his chin on Forte's shoulder. "Running yourself into a corner. I changed the combinations so no one would be able to get at you, and you go and do that." He gave Forte a small nudge forward, past the door, then glanced back as it slid shut behind them. "Let's get the hell out of here."  
  
Forte glared back at Blues, blushing lightly at the contact they'd had, then nodded slightly. "Yeah, before you try and kill me again." He began to lead his partner down the halls quickly, stopping only to allow Blues to open the doors. "You know, you could have told me you were going to do that." He stated pointedly.  
  
"Ah, but what about the element of surprise." Blues received a sour look from Forte. "Maybe next time you'll think twice before trying to jump my brother's bones." He poked Forte's chest, then led them through to the teleportation room. "Speaking of Rock, we'd better get back there before he gets bored without us. "  
  
---------------------  
  
Rock lay flat on his back with his leg in the air, and balanced a pencil on the tip of his toe by the tip. In short, Rock was bored. Extremely bored. "Why do they get to have all the fun?" He sighed. " 't was my idea." He turned his head, throwing his audience a sulky look. "It's not fair, is it?" Gospel lay stretched on his side, sleeping while Rush simply wagged his tail, waiting for a treat. "At least you guys understand." He smiled, tossing them both a cookie.  
  
Rock smiled at his two doggie companions, taking a cookie for himself and chewing on it slowly. Where were those two? He was beginning to get a little worried.... what if they were dead? What if they were hurt and about to be tortured? He sat up, worrying some more...then blinked as he heard a door open and Forte and Blues strode in. Well, Blues strode in. Forte just shuffled irritably. He smiled at them. "Hello, guys!" He stood up and dashed over to give Blues a hug, then detached to give another one to Forte. "I was starting to get a little worried."  
  
Forte smirked as Rock rested his head on the taller boy's shoulder. He stuck his tongue out at Blues. Hah. Let the brother-lusting pervert see that Rock liked him more after all.  
  
"Anyway, we have to get back to work." Blues sighed. "We're fine, Rock. I managed to get the virus going, and Wily will be annoyed as all hell." He grinned. "And when he's irritated, he won't work as well as he usually does. Gives us a few more weeks, at the least."  
  
Forte rolled his eyes, detaching Rock from his torso. "You're a dork. Now hurry the hell up, this building shit is heavy."  
  
------------------------------  
  
Ending Author's Notes: Aaaand so the fic just keeps going.  
  
Next chapter: Natural blondes, some people have sex, and the angst REALLY begins. ^_^  
  
Review please! We love reviews! 


	7. Chapter Seven

Nuts and Bolts Chapter 7  
  
Author's Notes: If you don't get the joke, we're not telling you. _;;; Go ask someone else. XD;  
  
In other news, whee! Angst REALLY starts next chapter. Next chapter will be posted sooner than this one was. It just slipped our minds.  
  
-----------------------------------  
  
Meanwhile, on the screens of all the computers in Wily's lab, a single sentence was displayed and the doctor himself was utterly furious.  
  
Wily's sextoy is a natural blonde. 3  
  
-------------------------------  
  
Forte was laughing so hard his body shook, every sound magnified and echoed by the large cavern they were now lining with metal and wiring. "Stop fucking around, Blues!! You didn't put that!!" He wiped a stray tear from his eye, no doubt in his mind that Blues had indeed put that ridiculously funny message on every monitor in the fortress. He set a large metal beam into place carefully as Blues gave a Cheshire grin.  
  
"You know damned well I did!" He began to weld the beam into place, bursting into a random fit of laughter. "And you know even better that it's true! Eh, you pervert!" Forte shook the ladder he stood on slightly, grin equally as wide, and Blues clung to it, kicking at him randomly.  
  
"I guess you gave him a thorough examination, didn't you?"  
  
"What do you mean he's a natural blonde?" Rock piped up suddenly, looking up from the floor as he lay sheeting down. All he got was in response was laughter and a chorus of 'You'll figure it out.' He sighed and went back to work, staring around him. This was taking forever. "I'm so tired.. and we've hardly made any progress!" He whined, looking around. This was so disheartening. "We're never gonna get this done in time, and then... and then......" He broke off, sniffling and wiping at his eyes.  
  
Blues gave a soft sigh, kicking his legs out from the ladder, and slid down it like a pole. He walked with Forte over to where Rock sat, crying quietly and squat down next to him. "Rock... Put yourself together. Crying isn't going to help anything! It's just going to slow us down even more." All he received was another sob. He understood how Rock felt. He was frustrated, they all were. Rock was tired, pressed for time, and under a lot of strain. Damnit, why had Light built him so emotionally delicate? "Look, Rock... Why don't you go sleep for awhile? Forte and I can take care of things."  
  
"Yeah, get a few hours of rest. You'll feel a lot better after that, and I bet you'll work twice as fast." He nodded to Blues, and they lifted Rock to his feet. Instantly he had attached himself to the closest thing- Forte, and his body racked harder with sobs. Forte managed to pry him loose eventually, and he gave him a small nudge toward the passage up. "Go on."  
  
He ignored Rock's small cries of "Buh-but I w-wanna h-h-heeeelp!" and kept pushing on him to rest until he finally agreed, stumbling off toward the entrance. Rubbing the back of his head, he made his way back over to the beam they had been setting in.  
  
"Fuck.. There goes a third of our work force." He yawned loudly and set to work welding the bottom half of the heavy beam. So much for sleeping that night.  
  
------------------------------  
  
Sleep was a precious, commodity for the next few months, and the tension and nervousness was growing. There was a general feeling of unease that even Roll couldn't miss. Gospel and Rush were growling at nothing and Dr. Light looked older than he ever had before.  
  
"Crap, this thing was a bitch to move." Forte grumbled, staring up at the capsule. "I never want to have to do anything like that ever again." Blues nodded from behind him. Rock was sitting next to the capsule, leaning against it and asleep with Gospel and Rush curled up next to him. "Christ, this had better be worth all the work. It would suck if X here didn't live longer than us."  
  
Blues patted Forte on the shoulder. "We've done pretty much everything we can for him. Now...to worry about ourselves." He sighed. "We have to at least pretend we're going to live. I can't believe how bad we've been acting lately. Isn't there anything we can really do?" Blues looked at his companion. Silence. "Fine. If you really think so...but at the very least let's not get Rock too depressed. He's most likely to survive of all of us." He didn't mention why. It wasn't needed. Both he and Forte planned to go down fighting when they had to, and if worst came to worst he could actually defend himself, unlike Roll or Dr. Light.  
  
"...Say, Blues...." Forte smiled slightly, "If we're going to die..."  
  
----------------------------  
  
Blues hissed sharply as his back slammed against the doorknob to Rock's door, as they struggled to shut it. Forte's mouth wrestled with his to silence him, and they shifted from the door to the wall. He knocked something off Rock's dresser as he clawed for something to give himself leverage as Forte tore his pants down off his body, quickly followed by his boxers. Forte growled something along the lines of "I get you first!" and began tugging at Blues' shirt.  
  
With a small moan, Blues managed to tug Forte's shirt off as Forte worked on his own pants, kicking them off his legs as he struggled to keep Blues pinned to the wall. Blues grabbed up a handful of Forte's hair and moaned into his ear thickly. "Oh fuck...!" He cursed as Forte slammed him against the wall and lifted the bottom half of his body up quickly. He wrapped his legs around Forte's waist tightly, to keep from falling, then Forte pressed him into the wall heavily and he was held in position.  
  
By this time, Forte had more than lost his patience with Blues' shirt, and gave it a good jerk, tearing it down the front. It hung open oddly, and he pulled the material open more, kissing down his chest, pausing to suck and lick in spots. Blues tasted good. Finally he settled on the nape of Blues' surprisingly tender neck, and he bit and sucked at it, breathing on his temporary lover hotly. He heard Blues whimper lightly as Forte shoved two well-slicked fingers into him, but he wouldn't-couldn't- go slow. He gripped Blues' hips tightly, giving them a heavy squeeze, and then he was inside.  
  
---------------------------  
  
Wily mumbled to himself furiously as his fingers typed over various command lines. This was it, time to get the little blonde bastard who'd robbed years of rest from his old weary body online. He typed in a few more codes, then stood up, walking over to his creation, hearing his systems starting up. It would be a few moments before he warmed up enough to activate fully. Finally. With a deep sigh, he dropped back into his chair, rolling back slightly.  
  
It had taken him ages to undo the damage that little shit had done. The message alone had been enough to put him in a rage, let alone the virus that came with it. He'd finally taken care of it, however, and now he was moments away from completing his legacy. He was old- He would die soon, but this robot could make sure he died a very powerful man. Hearing a small shuffle, he stood up again. This was it.  
  
Zero opened his eyes. What was this sensation? He was no longer in standby, and a strange world had unfolded before his eyes. Who was he? He knew he was Zero, but who was Zero? Where was he? What was he? Turning, he looked over at Wily and stared at him blankly. Finally, he opened his mouth and spoke. "I'm Zero." Taking in his surroundings, he thought of something else to say, something deeper, more meaningful. "Who the hell are you?" He asked finally.  
  
Wily grinned. His new toy already had an extensive vocabulary that included slang, and an attitude to back it up apparently. "I'm your master."  
  
Zero continued to stare at Wily. That old human was his master? Something clicked inside him, and he held his tongue. This creature was weak, and frail, like a little doll. Zero knew what dolls were, and their function. Could he use this puny human like a doll? Would he break if shaken too hard, or squeezed too much?  
  
He decided he'd find those things out later, when he'd worked out....stuff. He wasn't sure yet what stuff he needed to find out before he played around with the frailty of his master, but figured he'd know it when he saw it. Or something. He grunted, confused about, well, everything, and slowly took a couple steps forward from the tilted capsule he'd been in. Something swished behind him as he moved.... Zero blinked and turned around, seeing his hair fly around behind himself. Wow. That was a lot of hair. He didn't know what to compare it to, he just knew it was a lot. At least it looked good.  
  
And his armor...Zero looked down at himself, slightly disconcerted. His body's appearance was both extremely familiar and horribly new. The armor wasn't too great...but he still liked his hair. He grabbed at the ends of it idly....  
  
Rolling his eyes, Wily watched Zero chase his hair happily around in a little circle. It happened with all newly activated robots; they were a bit...confused for a while before they accepted their place in life. Hopefully it wouldn't last long with Zero; he'd programmed his toy to be fairly grounded and not to mess so much with all those damned abstract philosophical points that Light's bot was going to be struggling with. "Zero. Come."  
  
Frowning unhappily, Zero raised an eyebrow at the old man's near-hobbling walk, and stopped fooling around, glancing instead around the place as he exited the room. Huh. So that had been his place of birth. If you could call it a birth. Was he even alive? Zero frowned again, at himself this time, and decided it was best not to think about it. Facts first, worry about the other shit later. Like the fact that Wily moved really, really slowly. What kind of creature was a human, that they got so weak and frail when they got older? It was pretty...stupid.  
  
Much, much later, Zero blinked a lot as he suddenly walked out into a bright, open area. It was pretty bleak, he noted, glancing around and seeing a motley assortment of robots around the area. They seemed...he cocked his head, trying to place the emotion - nervous. He looked at his 'master', seeing the old man looking at him with anticipation. "Grenade Man." Wily said. "Here. Now." A rather ugly robot came forward, and Wily grinned. "Kill him, Zero."  
  
Kill? Zero was momentarily confused before the word really registered. He found he had at some point gotten out a weapon - his saber - and for a single moment he hesitated. Killing....he nearly grimaced. Was supposedly bad. So why was he supposed to...? His eyes widened as Grenade Man charged him suddenly-And he thrust forward with his saber in one quick motion, fascinated by how easily the weapon pierced the armor, and pulled up, enjoying the feel of slight resistance as the saber tore a huge rent from Grenade Man's chest through his head. Another slash, and the corpse of the robot master lay in three pieces at his feet.  
  
Zero smiled happily. This wasn't hard. It was....actually really fun. He rather wanted to do it again.  
  
------------------------------  
  
Rock opened his eyes slowly, hearing white noise, like that of a t.v monitor. Slowly, he lifted his head off of Gospel's ribs, and stared up at the monitor they had placed in the underground lab. Wily was on screen, screaming something. Looking around apprehensively, he slowly got to his feet and made his way over to the box, reaching up, and turned the volume up. The white noise, he realized was actually the sound of things breaking and exploding.  
  
Wily continued to yell, in fear and outrage. His head turned to the left, and his eyes bulged. He opened his mouth to scream loudly one last time, then a hand reached into the view of the camera and..... and..... Rock stumbled back, eyes wide.  
  
Then he began to shriek.  
  
----------------------  
  
With a small groan, Forte opened his eyes. "mm.... warm.." he murmured softly, then nuzzled the form next to him. The naked form. His eyes shot open and Forte sat up quickly. He winced in pain at doing so, then settled back down. Oh yeah... Last night. With a small satisfied sigh, he wrapped an arm around Blues' waist. Fuck, at least they weren't going to die with blue balls. Looking around the room, slowly, he felt his cheeks redden.  
  
Rock was going to go into hysterics when he saw the condition his room was in. Things were smashed and ripped- Hell, entire pieces of furniture had been knocked over. He couldn't help a small grin. They'd fucked each other silly, and in every spot of the room they could fit in. Somehow, he wasn't sure, they'd ended up in the bed. With a small yawn, he closed his eyes again.  
  
They were open and alert within seconds, however, as he heard Rock enter the house, screaming hysterically.  
  
Oh shit, this couldn't be good. Rock dashed into his room, completely uncaring of Blues' and Forte's nakedness or the room's damaged state or anything. He shuddered and sobbed, babbling incoherently, and clung to Forte as Blues stirred, face red. "Oh god oh god oh god oh god..." Rock babbled, words finally fading away as he sobbed uncontrollably. "Forte, Wily's dead." He sniffed, pulling away and face stricken.  
  
Blues shot out of bed, finding his clothes. "Crap, he's awake? But I..." He frowned. "Never mind. We have to get moving." He glanced at Forte. The boy seemed to be in shock, staring at Rock with a blank expression. "Forte! Damnit, man, I thought you wanted to live!" That got his attention. "Hurry up already, we don't have much time before that damn 'bot figures out where to go and how to get there."  
  
--------------------------  
  
Ending Author's Notes: Important!......we took a LOT of uh, 'artistic license' with this fic. So...it's not really matching with canon. Not that there is much canon...but....Okay, it doesn't match at all, almost. *cough* Forgive that, please, and try to enjoy what's there. _;;; Gimp's opinion on that fact is probably 'who cares', but Muselet is mildly upset. e.e;  
  
Reviews? They're good! 


	8. Chapter Eight

Nuts and Bolts Chapter Eight  
  
Author's Notes: Whee! Angst! So much. Love the psycho.  
  
No goldfish were harmed in the writing of this fic. We were sleep-deprived and giggly and, uh.... no, I don't know why I didn't just edit that scene out, it's stupid. XD;;  
  
-----------------------  
  
Roll patted Rush on the head, smiling as his tail wagged happily. "Good boy." The day was just beginning, and the sun rising over the hills landed warmly on her shoulders and face. It was looking like the weather would be beautiful. She watched contentedly as a chirping bird flew over head....and her gaze dropped suddenly to the road, where a strange man in bright red armor was walking up the road. She blinked, and smiled as the man waved to her.  
  
"Hello." She said quietly, as the man looked around, expression open and curious. The sun was shining off his incredibly long blonde hair, and she watched it, fascinated, as he dropped to one knee in front of her and ruffled her hair.  
  
"Hey!" He said, cheerful. "I'm looking for the house of a guy named Light. This it?" She nodded, and then, "You live here?" Another nod. "Great. So....what exactly is with this place? Some doctor or something?"  
  
"Oh, I live here with Dr. Light - he's my father - and Blues and Rock, and Forte lives here too but he was built by Wily." The man smiled at her. He was...very handsome. "He's a great scientist." She smiled back. Rush wagged his tail, watching the man carefully. "We were just about to have tea. Would you like to come in?"  
  
"Great!" The man said, standing up. "So...where can I find your brothers, and this, uh, Forte?" Roll was about to speak when suddenly there was a shout from the house.  
  
"ROLL! Get the hell away from him! Now!" Blues yelled, nearly panicking. Oh shit oh shit oh shit. He couldn't possibly get there in time to save her, though Rush might be able to make it back in the house...he felt sick inside. "Rush! Get inside!" The dog didn't move, but his ears pricked up. "....Oh god, what the fuck are you doing here?"  
  
The man in front of Roll smiled. "I would think that was obvious." He snorted. "And I wasn't going to hurt the girl, but since you insist..." There was a quick motion of his arm, and a twisting movement. Roll's body fell to the turf and he tossed her head away. He glanced down at Rush, still smiling. "And hell, the dog too." Rush growled, and he laughed. "By the way," He said, walking calmly towards the dog. "The name's Zero. And you are...?"  
  
"ROLL!!!!!!" Rock screamed at the top of his lungs, struggling against Forte, then finally broke free and pushed past Blues quickly. He stared, wide eyed at the scene before him, then slowly slumped to his knees. "Rush... RUSH!! Rush, come inside!!! Come here boy!!!" He began to cry, struggling against Blues as his brother wrapped an arm around his waist and he dragged him back into the house, kicking. "RUSH!!"  
  
The dog growled loudly at Zero, one last time, then began to bound toward the house, toward his master. Blues sighed softly, holding Rock back, and watched the dog race toward the house. "Forte..." He said evenly. "Go get Dr. Light, quick. It's time to get in the lab." There was no way the dog would make it now. He had waited too long. "Come on, Rock." Closing his eyes, he shut the door slowly.  
  
Rock watched in horror as Blues shut the door on Rush, the last thing he saw of his pet was Rush's panicked face, mouth open with his tongue lolling out the side as he ran. "B.... Blues....?" He began to shake. Blues...Had shut the door. Rush...wasn't inside yet. "Blues.... What are you doing, Blues?" His eyes began to fill with tears.  
  
Blues tightened his grip on Rock, turning around and made a run toward the lab. Rock planted his feet into the ground firmly, and refused to move. "Rock!! He's not going to make it!! Come on!!!" Rock let out a choked sob, struggling to get back out the door, and he grabbed him, throwing him over his shoulder swiftly and made a run for the underground laboratory, Rock shrieking the entire time.  
  
---------------------  
  
Zero dropped the limp form of Rush, or rather what remained of him. He had torn open the dog's rib cage, and scattered his circuitry across the lawn. More robots, more disappointments. There had to be something more challenging around. Slowly he entered the house, then paused, seeing a T.V sitting in the far corner of the room.  
  
LIGHT!!!! WHAT DID YOU CREATE?!?!?! LIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIGHT!!! HOW DO I TURN HIM OFF??  
  
Slowly his face broke into a grin. Ah..... There was another. Someone like him. Good, if these Light, Rock, Blues and Forte people didn't prove entertaining enough, at least there was someone worth killing. He began to wander the house, slowly, looking for his victims.  
  
--------------------  
  
They met up with Forte and Dr. Light halfway down the tunnel to the lab, and they sealed several doors as they went, leading Dr. Light carefully as Rock hung limply from over Blues' shoulder. Rock's screams had long since died down, and he now stared ahead, shuddering, eyes dull. Occasionally, he let out a small whimper, or spoke brokenly. "He was........... blues..... why...? ......... they're dead....."  
  
Forte stroked Rock's cheek softly, sighing when Rock gave no response whatsoever. Of all the times to fall to pieces. "Shhh.... It's over now..." He whispered, knowing he was lying, but determined to calm the boy down. Rock simply ignored him, however, and he brushed his hair back gently. "How much further?" He asked Blues softly. He wondered vaguely how long their small fortress would last. Twelve hours? Twenty? Certainly no longer than two days.  
  
"We're almost there." Blues called over his back, pausing to seal yet another door behind them. "Two more to go, then we're at level one of the lab." He returned to staring ahead. The trip had never seemed so long before. Finally, the last two doors were sealed off, and they sat in the main room of the first level, Rock huddled in the corner, hugging himself.  
  
--------------------  
  
Forte sighed, glancing over at Blues. Hey, at least they'd gotten sex before this. He grinned cheekily. And he'd go down fighting, that was another thing to look forward to. Sortof. Dying still wasn't the greatest thing in the world, but he'd put a positive spin on it if he damn well could, for Rock's sake and his sanity's. "God, my brother's such a bastard." He muttered quietly, earning a small smile that quickly faded from Blues' face. Dr. Light looked absolutely ancient, eyes surrounded by dark circles and his shaking hands wringing each other.  
  
He suddenly became aware of a quiet muttering from Rock's corner of the room. ".....my fault, my fault, they're dead and it's all my fault...." A repetitive stream of words, depressed and toneless. Forte hugged him idly. "....it's my fault...." Rock moaned, biting his lower lip.  
  
"Not your fault, damnit." Forte growled. "It's mine, got it?" Rock kept babbling. "Rock. Rock, listen to me. Do you want Dr. Light to die?" Ah, that got his attention. "Then shut the fuck up and get yourself together. It was my fault, and I'll deal with it. If he kills me, I've paid the price for my idiocy and I'll know I was a complete fuckhead for everything. Don't blame yourself or you'll act like this and be useless to everyone. Your dad needs you and your younger brother X needs you, okay?"  
  
---------------------------  
  
Zero hummed tunelessly to himself as he wandered the house. No, they hadn't left...he had checked. Damnit, nothing. A sigh. They must have anticipated this...and pretty far in advance if they were this well hidden. He stared out a window as the sun rose. So they must have had somewhere to hide, and if he found them he would find the other one like him. He nodded at the thought, smiling slightly. If he found the place where they were hiding...  
  
This was going to take for-fucking-ever. He frowned unhappily. It was pretty damn obvious that they'd known he was coming, somehow; the kid had yelled at him to keep away from that girl when he'd been spotted, after all. And they would have prepared damned well, judging by the way those boys had fled. They would have had time - how much, he didn't know - and resources were another unknown. But he couldn't find them, so...where ever they were, they were hidden well.  
  
So. What to do? Looking more would result in the same; nothing. Whatever. He'd kill some time and think about it. Zero sighed heavily, reaching instinctively to take off his helmet, and then frowning at the offending piece of armor in confusion as it rested in his hands. Maybe figure some stuff out, too. He shrugged and continued past the stairs into the kitchen.  
  
Setting the helmet down on the table, he sat down slowly in one of the chairs. It looked comfortable and inviting. Something about this entire place did, yet the inhabitants seemed to feel otherwise. Not the best hosts, really. In fact, no one had really treated him all that well, now that he thought about it. Other than that girl he'd had to kill. Roll, that was her name. She had been nice. She'd even invited him in for tea. Her death had been quick, and she probably hadn't felt it, so they were even as far as he was concerned.  
  
He glanced up, a slight hissing grabbing his attention. Getting to his feet, he walked over to the object making the noise and stared at it, fascinated. He knew what this was. It was a kettle. He examined it slowly, cocking his head to the side, and slowly his eyes followed a long black cord to where it was plugged into the wall. Reaching forward, he gave the cord a good tug and the plug fell out of a little plate stuck to the wall. This fascinated him and he played with it for a few moments, plugging the kettle in and out of the wall. The game soon bored him, however, and he inspected the counter.  
  
A large bowl was sitting in the far corner of the counter, containing some kind of an orange fish. Slowly he pulled the bowl toward himself and stared down at the little pet. "My name's Zero. Can you talk?" Nothing. The fish continued to swim slow circles, blasé, despite Zero's face practically shoved in the bowl. "I guess not. Too bad. Maybe you could explain some stuff to me." He reached in the bowl slowly, grabbing the fish and pulled him out, setting him on the counter. Swimming around like that all day had to be exhausting.  
  
The fish began to flop and writhe, its small gills opening and closing rapidly as it struggled to breathe. Zero picked it up again, noting his small struggle, and dropped him back into the water. The fish swam to and fro wildly for a few seconds, then settled again, circling slowly. "Guess you need your water to live." Zero rested his cheek in his hand and drew small circles on the side of the bowl with his finger. "Everything's so confusing."  
  
He smiled slightly as the fish swam over to the side of the bowl, bonking its head against the glass as it followed his finger around slowly. The little guy was kinda....what was the word? He cast around for one. Cute. That was it. And quiet, none of the screaming and yelling that everyone else had done when they'd seen him here. Zero nodded to himself, staring at the little fish swimming around contentedly in its bowl. Yeah, that little thing was much more pleasant to be around than almost anyone besides that Roll girl. The screaming, while amusing, got on his nerves after a while. He could see why those people had kept it around; it actually was pretty calming to watch.  
  
Poking at the side of the bowl, Zero grinned. "I shall call you Roll, 'cause you remind me of her, even though you're probably not a girl. And when I'm done dealing with everyone else, I shall keep you around. You're entertaining." He stood up and stretched. The kettle was still steaming a little, he noticed, and almost without thinking he wandered over, grabbed a mug that was sitting around - it even had the teabag in it - and poured the hot water in. It fascinated him, how the water changed color with the tea steeping in it.  
  
Blinking, a thought struck him. There was water in the kettle, there was water in the fishbowl. He glanced down into his teacup.  
  
He tilted the cup back, drinking it, a thoughtful look in his eye. Tea tasted very good, it seemed. It burnt his lips and his tongue a bit as he drank it, but it was very good. The fish really liked water, so maybe he'd enjoy some tea. "Do you want some, Roll?" He asked, smiling as the fish swam slowly to the top of the bowl, waiting expectantly to be fed. Zero couldn't resist a small grin at his little friend. "Hold on, just a second. You must really like this stuff."  
  
He tilted the mugs set up on the counter back, until he found another tea bag. Turning back to the fish, he stared down at it again. He hadn't budged. "Here you go, Roll!" He tossed the teabag into the bowl, laughing a little at the way it nipped the teabag. "Hang on, it needs this water to make the tea come out." He grabbed the kettle, tilting it over the bowl, and poured it in, stopping just short of the bowl's rim.  
  
"There! Isn't that-" Zero stared silently at the steaming fishbowl. That was... Odd. The fish was on its side, floating at the top of the water. "Hey, did you fall asleep?" He asked, giving it a small poke. A few scales came off the body, floating slowly around the boiled goldfish. "Roll? You lost some of your gold. Hey, Roll?"  
  
The fish remained unresponsive, so he lifted him out of the bowl and set him down on the counter lightly. The fish's body was hot to the touch, the water burned his fingers like it had burned his mouth. This time the fish didn't flop around like it had before. It simply laid there stiffly. Something was wrong with him.  
  
It took a moment, and suddenly he realized just what was wrong with Roll. The fish was dead. Zero stared at his former companion, and only one word seemed to fit the situation.  
  
"......Fuck."  
  
He frowned immensely, suddenly feeling very uncomfortable. Actually, he felt pretty bad, and it didn't make any sense since he knew he wasn't damaged. There was a weird twisting sensation in his chest, and he suddenly wished he'd thought a little more about what he'd been doing. Zero blinked at the unmoving body of the fish for a long time. "I'm sorry." He told its body. That made him feel worse, so he grimaced. He didn't like this feeling. Better get moving and look for those little upstarts he'd been searching for. There was a lot of area to cover besides this place.  
  
---------------------  
  
"Think he'll be any use to us?" Forte whispered, staring at Rock as he slept, head resting on Gospel lightly. They were standing with their ears pressed into the door, listening to the faint sizzle of laser on metal. He'd found them. Blues turned his head, cheek resting against the door and shrugged slightly.  
  
"Dunno." He smiled slightly. "You never know, he might come out of it after he rests a little. It was a lot for him to take in, given his emotional capacity. Dr. Light made him far too sensitive." He shot Rock a glance- he seemed to be sleeping peacefully. "But he's pulled himself out of it before, when push comes to shove."  
  
Forte nodded slightly, leaning in closer. "Let's hope so." A pause. "I still have two on you." Blues rolled his eyes, sighing dramatically. "Last chance to get some incestuous lovin'." He grinned widely, and Blues started to chuckle softly.  
  
"You're an idiot, you know that? Such a retard." He leaned closer, face inches from Forte's. "Who did you think I've been after all this time...?" He flicked his nose gently, then leaned back against the door, listening to the sparks slowly growing louder.  
  
Forte grinned back at him, despite the surprise of Blues' words. As far as he had known, they had both been pursuing Rock all this time. "You are so full of bullshit."  
  
"You know you're blushing." Blues muttered, then smirked, figuring he'd never get the chance to ask again. "So... How was it, anyway?" He was curious as to what Forte thought of his little performance the night before.  
  
Forte's grin widened further. "Well.... I measure sex by property damage caused during said sex. Rock's room was trashed this morning, if you didn't notice. I'd have to say that was the best yet." Slowly his smile faded, and he beat his fist on the door lightly. "Sorry. At least now..." He smiled up at him. "Guess it was worth it though."  
  
"Do you think Light's okay down there by himself?" Blues mumbled distractedly. "I know he needs to work on X a little longer, but still... Maybe we should have sent Rock with him." Forte shook his head 'no', and he sighed louder. He knew Forte wanted Rock to help defend the laboratory, but if something happened... God, he'd never forgive himself! "I'm just-"  
  
Suddenly they heard the crackling of Zero slowly working his way through the door with some kind of weapon, sparks flying about. "Shit!!" Forte growled, and the two of them called their armor on. "Gospel! Come on!" He called over his shoulder, and Gospel leapt to his feet, waking Rock in the process, then jumped and merged with Forte's armor.  
  
Rock jumped to his feet, eyes wide, and looked around sharply, half awake. "What's going on?" He followed suit and called his armor on quickly. "Is he here?" Blues put his fingers to his lips, silencing him, and the two spread out on either side in front of him. There was no question now. Rock felt his knees begin to shake slowly, but he remembered Forte's words, and knew he had to protect Dr. Light and X, and be strong for his brother and friend.  
  
They stood, still as stone, Rock shaking in fear, the others in anticipation. This was it- their last chance for a good fight. If they were going to leave their mark on the world, this was it.  
  
Then, it happened. With the force of a tank, Zero gave the door a final slam, ripping it off so hard it flew across the room.  
  
Forte and Blues instantly raised their busters, Rock too frozen to do anything but stare. The man walking in through the door, carrying a sword of some kind, seemed friendly except for the creepy contrast of the blood on him and the insane grin on his face. "That was really annoying." Zero said, rolling his eyes. "I don't see why you bothered. It didn't really do much." Blues fired the first shot, hitting the red armor and scorching it slightly. Zero blinked at him for a minute, then snorted. "Oh come on, you can do better than that. Don't go disappointing me already."  
  
"Oh shut up Zero, you're just like Wily." Forte spat, shoving Rock out of the way as the blonde man set eyes on him, calculating the threat there and seeing a defenseless target. "And a terrible brother to boot." Those bright blue eyes lit up. His brother, eh? Forte, if that girl had been right. ...This might be interesting.  
  
"Whatever." And with that, he charged, the saber slashing down to barely miss Forte as he leaped out of the way and fired a few shots. Much better. Someone with a little fight, at the least. Zero looked at Rock, who stood about three feet away and was staring at him with a mixture of terror and awe. No threat there, but...might as well get rid of the poor little bastard. He stabbed forward with his saber...  
  
...and found it buried in the shield and chest of the third robot. The damn thing had gone right through the pitiful protection. Heh. Zero gave his saber a tug, then cursed when the smaller 'bot refused to let go, yelling out to the terrified boy he'd protected to run, to go help Light. Zero sighed. Great, one of those people. Whatever, at least he had Forte to spar with a little....and Forte was screaming curses at him, so he'd be good and angry too. Another tug on the saber, forcefully, and Zero watched the kid run off towards the deeper parts of the building; no problem there, he'd get to kill it later. "That was really stupid." He sighed, pulling once more and finally freeing his weapon.  
  
Rock turned around at the last second to see his brother being carved in half. He stumbled, nearly fell, and continued running towards Dr. Light. He had to protect X and his father. Forte had told him to. Forte, who was cursing loudly behind him, who he knew he wasn't going to see alive again.  
  
--------------------------  
  
Ending Author's Notes: Yay, melodrama. o.o *shrug* Anyhoo, we promise updating faster, we just edit reeaaalllly slowly. *cough* Yeah. Our bad.  
  
Next chapter.... the end!  
  
Review, please! 


	9. Chapter Nine and Epilogue

Nuts and Bolts Chapter 9  
  
Authors' notes: We are dorks and didn't know how to end this well. Forgive us. *bow* Uhh.... yeah, it's got some technical errors, but we're not sure how to fix them and don't care enough to work it out.  
  
Sorry for late posting. We suck. Enjoy the angst and review, please! We love reviews!  
  
------------------  
  
Forte continued to scream and swear at the tall blonde robot as Rock retreated, enraged. "Forget him, I'm the one you want!!" Zero cocked his head to the side, staring back at him curiously, and he began to search the room for something slick. He needed to slow the robot down, he was just too fast, and Forte did not want to get caught on the end of that glowing blade. Whatever it was, it had cut through Blues' shield like a knife through warm butter. His only chance was to get the floor too slippery to run around, and attack from the air.  
  
Zero slowly made his way toward the now silent Forte, whose eyes searched wildly for something. Why was he hesitating now, if he wanted to fight? Suddenly, the smaller bot turned and began firing into the wall rapidly, eyes narrowed. "What are you doing?" He growled, not really alarmed, simply suspicious. His supposed brother was up to something, and Zero doubted he was going to like it.  
  
Forte continued to fire into the wall, frowning. Please let this work. When they had built this lab, the had built double layered walls, filled with some strange gel Dr. Light had developed, to help shield against any radiation which may occur when Zero attacked-they had prepared for almost everything-not wanting to contaminate anything outside the lab. It was extremely slippery and would work perfectly, if he could just bust through! Finally, he heard a loud creak, and the metal began to push out. "Now we're going to see who's really Wily's greatest creation." He grinned, kicking off from the ground, and fired one last time. He would get revenge for himself, and for Blues.  
  
This angered the blonde. The little bastard had insulted him. He'd show him exactly who was stronger, and then he'd make him suffer before he died. Zero watched Forte take to the air, rolling his eyes. Did he honestly think that was going to give him any kind of advantage? Suddenly the wall gave way, and a thick, clear black substance poured lazily onto the floor, spreading out along it slowly. He watched as it coated his feet, then slid slowly along, eventually half covering that other boy he had just killed. He returned his gaze to his feet. Whatever it was, it wasn't corrosive. "What was that supposed to do? Harm me?" He grinned, then made a dash for him.  
  
Forte grinned back, watching Zero lose his footing and nearly fall. "No. Just slow you down a little." With a smirk, he opened fire on the other Wily bot.  
  
  
  
Rock ran on and on down hall after hall, breath ragged. He was now in the fourth level of the lab, the level where X resided. Bursting the doors open, he looked around for Dr. Light, surprised to find him not there. "Dr. Light!!" He yelled, wiping his eyes. Nothing. He must have retreated to the sleeping quarters on level 3. He'd probably run right past him. Turning to leave, he stopped suddenly, staring at X's capsule. Slowly, he made his way toward it, leaning over, and pressed his cheek against the cool glass.  
  
"X... Please wake up..." He bit his lip and choked back sobs. "I'm scared..... I don't want to fail, but I don't think I can protect dad.... I don't think I can protect you... Please help me.....X.... Help me..." His words died in his throat and he collapsed against the capsule, sobbing loudly. Roll was dead, Rush was gone... Blues had died protecting him, soon to be followed by Gospel and Forte... They were all going to die, all because of the information he'd given Forte all that time ago.  
  
Dr. Light sighed, standing in the doorway to the room. He didn't need to ask, he could see it in Rock's body language and hear it in his voice. They were on their own now.  
  
  
  
Forte continued to rain shots down on Zero as he slowly circled Forte, picking his way carefully along the floor to avoid sliding or falling. His plan had worked perfectly, his enemy was practically immobilized, and his buster was slowly but steadily chipping away at that damn armor. Perhaps they were going to live after all. "Give up and deactivate, or I'll destroy you right here!" Forte ordered coldly. "I won't let you harm Rock."  
  
Zero grinned. Ah. The boy. His brother had sentiments for him. This 'Rock' probably felt the same way. A weakness he could use against him. "I'll tell you what..." He purred, walking slowly toward Blues' still form. "If you come down from there right now, I'll let you go. I'll let the boy go. Hell, I'll even let this 'Light' character go. I just want Light's creation. The one like me. But... If you don't come down and surrender, then I'll kick your sorry ass, then I'll take you with me, and let the boy watch what I guarantee will be a very gruesome death, before killing him as well. I want someone to witness who's really the 'greatest'." Silence. Forte simply glared down at him. "Well?"  
  
"Fuck you."  
  
With a feral grin, Zero stepped onto Blues' mangled corpse, and used him to leap into the air, grabbing onto a support beam. Finally, something not slippery. If Forte wanted an aerial battle, that was fine by him. He didn't need to fly to take the boy down while airborne. "I'm going to hold true to my promise, you know." He laughed. "I'll let him watch you die, slowly. Then I'll kill everyone. I'll kill until there's nothing left!!" He roared with laughter, excited by the prospect of all that death, and began to leap from beam to beam, after Forte.  
  
"FUCK!" Forte yelled, firing a few more shots and darting away. Shit, that was something he hadn't expected, he'd underestimated the 'bot. Shit. Well, he wasn't going to give Wily the satisfaction of-  
  
He was hit in the back, hard, the entire mass of his opponent slamming him out of the air to crunch painfully against the ground, sliding on the slick black gel and thudding into the wall. He struggled, cursed, and suddenly felt very cold inside. He stopped moving. No, this...couldn't be happening, it wasn't real, he wasn't being picked up roughly by the grinning Zero and his arm didn't feel like it was about to fall off. He wouldn't fail, not when- Gospel merged out of his armor and he grunted. He stared into Zero's bemused face, hearing a chuckle from his opponent and a vicious growl from Gospel, a sick certainty rising in his gut that the dog was going to die, and then him, and then Rock. Fuck, why hadn't he just fucking surrendered?  
  
He hit the ground as Zero tossed him away in favor of sliding over to Gospel and slamming the whimpering dog against the wall, reaching and slowly pulling out the circuitry from Gospel's chest, tossing it idly over his shoulder. Oh yes, Forte realized, feeling strangely detached from everything as Zero grabbed him again and happily slid over to the doorway. He hadn't surrendered because that would have been a betrayal of Rock's trust. And that was what had gotten them here in the first place...  
  
Zero swung his now-limp burden around, noting with pleasure the small grunts of pain. The small 'bot seemed to be in shock at the moment, but at least he'd put up a decent fight unlike the others. That small, innocent little boy - Rock, was it? - looked like he was no threat whatsoever. He sighed. "You know...it's almost a shame to have to kill you, bro." He glanced at his burden, into those blank, hating eyes. "You put up a better fight than anything else yet. Pity you don't have any common sense, or it might have been interesting to keep you alive."  
  
They were on the third level of the lab, Forte noted, Zero's words drifting around him without making any impression. Rock and Dr. Light were probably in one of those rooms, and unless one of them talked, Zero would never find X. At least he'd slowed the bastard down....Dr. Light would have had time to do the final checkups on X.  
  
A door opened and Zero smiled cheerfully at the old man in front of him. "Hey!" He said, and would have waved if his hands weren't full. "Have you seen a little blue guy named Rock around here?"  
  
Instantly Rock stood before Dr. Light, shielding him. "W-What......" His question died away as he saw the package Zero held in his arms. "Forte!!" He cried, aiming his buster at Zero's head. "Give him back!! Don't hurt him, please!!" His eyes filled up with tears, and he shook. Forte was so limp, he had to be injured badly. He probably needed major repairs.  
  
"Huh?" Zero looked from Rock to Forte and back. "You're concerned about him? That isn't good." He shrugged and set Forte down on his feet, keeping an arm wrapped tight around his waist, to keep him from sliding to the floor when his opponents' legs sooner or later gave out. Forte moaned softly in pain. "See, as much as I'd love to... ahh... honour your request, I have to punish him for not telling me where I could find this 'X' character I've been looking for." Reaching around, he found Forte's face and grasped his chin, tilting his head up slightly so he could make eye contact with Rock.  
  
Rock stared at Forte, eyes brimmed with tears. "Please.... Zero... I'm begging you, don't kill him.. Please..." His mouth moved slowly, and he shook slightly. He waved to Dr. Light slowly behind his back, urging him to retreat into the next room. The man gave Forte a sad look, then sighed and left quietly.  
  
Zero smiled at this, and stroked Forte's face gently, considering Rock's words. "You.... Would do anything for this boy?" Rock nodded slowly, tears streaming down his cheeks. "Anything, hmm?" He gave Rock the once up and down, then leaned down, smiling at Rock with an almost friendly air. "Well, Rock.. you seem like a really nice little guy. So I'll make you a deal... I won't kill your friend- hell, I won't kill the two of you either, if you tell me where I can find X."  
  
"My brother..?" Rock whispered, eyes wide. He looked from Zero to Forte, who's head was lolling slightly. He had to be in so much pain. Rock was torn, and he looked to Forte for help. "I..... you want X..?"  
  
Forte growled lowly, and forced his eyes to focus. "Rock.... Don't you dare... If you tell him... then everyone's death has been pointless!!" His legs gave up completely, and he now hung in Zero's grip limply. "Don't do it!" He heard a small sob from Rock, and his tone softened greatly.  
  
"Rock..." He looked up at him, smiling gently. "I'm glad I got to know you... I never had a friend before you. You changed me, and I'm a better person now because of you." A few stray tears ran down his face, and he forced himself to smile wider. "I've never.. Belonged anywhere until I met you. Don't tell him.. Don't let everyone's sacrifice into a waste. Make me proud."  
  
Zero smiled, patting Forte's head gently. "That was really nice, you know that?" He smiled down at Rock. "Now, if you'll just tell me where X is, you two can get back to.... Well, whatever it is you do..." He smiled sweetly- until Rock shook his head no. Damn. He shouldn't have let the violet streaked boy talk. Ah well. This would just be more fun. "Alright. Have it your way. Say goodbye, then."  
  
Rock's eyes widened as Zero gripped onto Forte's throat. "NOOOO!!!!!" He threw himself at them, grabbing onto Forte quickly. There was a horrible ripping sound, accompanied by loud shrieks from Forte. Suddenly his anguished cries died out, and the horrible ripping sound ceased. Rock suddenly found himself hot, and soaking wet- he was covered in some hot sticky substance, running down his head, his body... He looked at his hands. Oh god... it was blood... He clung to Forte tighter, whose body gave no resistance at all, caving in as he squeezed it, and he sobbed. "No...... Nooo......"  
  
Suddenly a hand gripped his chin firmly, and forced him to look up. "Don't cry... Here, give him a kiss goodbye." Rock screamed even louder. Zero's hand was still gripping onto Forte's head, but the only thing from there down was the broken frame of Forte's spine, and a few sparking wires and chips dangling from it. His scream was silenced as Zero pressed Forte's lips against Rock's mouth. He kicked Zero hard, still screaming, and stumbled away quickly, scrambling to his feet. "Now it's your turn.. Or the old man's. Your choice."  
  
Rock's eyes widened. Dr. Light! He had to protect him. He shot Zero a few times, then turned on his heel and ran away quickly, heading in the direction he'd sent the doctor in.  
  
Zero rolled his eyes, tossing the head over his shoulder and walking slowly in the direction Rock was headed. Nobody ever listened to the rational guy, no, they had to scream and fight and get all emotional and shit. All he wanted was to kill X and they just weren't cooperating. He sighed. Guess he'd have to kill Rock, then Dr. Light, or vice-versa. The order didn't particularly matter to him, so long as one or the other told him where to find his next and hopefully best opponent. This was getting tedious.  
  
Rock whimpered, slamming doors behind him as he went deeper into the lab. He had to protect Dr. Light...he had to. Panting, trying desperately not to cry, he quietly closed the door to the brightly-lit room, staring with watery eyes up at his father. He sniffled. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I couldn't...that is, I..." He trailed off. "I don't want you to die!" He blurted, clinging desperately to the pure white coat Light wore, burying his face in it and refusing to sob. A warm hand pressed gently against his back.  
  
"It was bound to happen someday, Rock...maybe in a different way, but eventually I would have died anyway." He shushed the small boy. "Don't tell him about X, Rock. No matter what he does, alright?" A small, tight nod. "Good boy, Rock. You've made me proud." There were footsteps in the hallway, and they could hear Zero humming something loudly, tune unrecognizable. Rock pulled away from his father, leading him further back in the room, and prepared to make his stand.  
  
The door opened with a bang, and Zero strode in a couple of steps, stopping when Rock fired a shot at his face. "Jeez, calm down." He rolled his eyes. "I just want to know one damn thing, and I've told you again and again that I'll leave you alone if you do, but nooo, you have to keep on trying to kill me." He looked down at Rock, smiling. "Nice little pet you have here, old man. Is this X guy anything like him?" Silence. Rock rushed Zero angrily, only to be picked up and flung across the room. He hit the wall with a satisfying thud. "Oh, come on.....if you don't start talking I'm going to have to start hurting things. And I think you don't want that."  
  
Rock struggled up. "You're not going to kill X!" He fired another shot, then groaned as Zero dashed over and crushed his buster.  
  
"Now, now, you shouldn't do that." Zero grinned. "Someone could get hurt." He let the crushed arm drop, watching the tears spring up in Rock's eyes as he swung a small fist at him. He caught it and swung Rock against the wall, watching as the tiny 'bot crumpled to the ground. It was kind of cute how the kid tried to stand up for his daddy. Speaking of which... "Oh yes. You. Light, is it?" He turned around with a smile, sheathing his saber. He wouldn't need it. "You're...not going to tell me anything, are you? Protecting your son, I guess." A shrug. "Nice sentiment, and it's really annoying. So..." He grinned. "I'm going to crush your bones and kick your fucking head in."  
  
  
  
Rock jolted out of the black nothingness when he heard the first scream, and something warm and wet splattered on his face. He didn't look up, he was afraid to look up, and he began to sob when he heard the soft moan coming from Dr. Light. He couldn't do anything, he couldn't save his father.... He struggled to sit up, turning around. Oh God. "No, no...nonononono.." He muttered, eyes wide and tears wet on his cheeks. "NO! DAD!"  
  
Zero must have crushed half the bones in his body. The man was white, shaking, and his coat had turned a horrible shade of red in places. "No....." He whimpered. The doctor wasn't dead- not yet. There was no way he was going to survive, however, even if Rock DID stop this now. "Zero!!! Don't kill my dad please!!" He pleaded, struggling slowly onto his hands and knees.  
  
Zero turned his head in Rock's direction slowly. "Ah.. You're awake. Good. Things were starting to get boring." With a smile, Zero let Light drop to the floor, hardly getting a scream out of him. Yep. His playtoy was done for. "You know." he mumbled, swinging his leg back and giving Light's head a good kick- decimating the man's skull. He paused momentarily to shake the man's brains off his foot. Where was he?  
  
"You have been a really disappointing lot. Not one of you proved to be a challenge. You're all pathetic. The only one who proved to be even remotely interesting was my brother." With a small smile, Zero lifted Dr. Light's body up by the arm, flinging him over to Rock. "Oh, there's your father. I hope you don't mind that I got impatient with you and killed him first. You all seem to be in such a hurry to die."  
  
Rock bashed his chin on the floor with a slight whimper, Dr. Light's corpse was heavy, and had knocked him down when it hit him. "We've been planning for this for a long time... I'm not scared to die anymore. If you're going to do it, get it over with.. But listen to me... Forte.. your brother.. He was a really bad person for a long time. He was mean, and he hurt people... we had to fight a lot, and I had to keep hurting him to stop him from making a mistake he'd regret."  
  
Zero had stopped, and was listening to him. Zero was listening. With a small sigh, he continued. This was his last chance. He rested his chin on the metal and smiled weakly. Everything hurt. "I know you feel like you have to do these terrible things.. But you don't. You can become a better person... You don't have to be mean just because you were programmed that way. You're special, Zero. You can do whatever you want. You can think for yourself."  
  
Zero stared down at him, expressionless. Then slowly a warm smile spread across his face, as he thought those words over. "So.... I can decide my own fate?" He asked finally, pondering over this. "I can do whatever I want... anything..." Turning, he walked away from Rock, stopping and leaning on a lab table. "Anything at all... I'm free." His smile widened, turning into that grin again as he picked the heavy lab table up. "Good. I want to kill you." Smirking, he threw the table at Rock, laughing as it crushed him and he shrieked.  
  
Rock screamed for all he was worth. Christ, the corner of the table was INSIDE him, it had impaled him. He sobbed softly, choking occasionally on his own blood as his systems began to back up. He was smothering. Opening his eyes slowly, he stared up dully, seeing Zero looming over him menacingly.  
  
"Where's X? Since you're going to die anyway, you may as well tell me." Silence. Rock couldn't have answered even if he'd wanted to at this point. "Come on... I'll be nice and make your end quick." When Rock didn't answer, Zero sighed and sat down on the desk, listening to Rock's pathetic whimpers and other strangled sounds as the boy was slowly crushed beneath him. He couldn't think. that damn question kept popping up within his systems, asking him to open some program.  
  
((Bls.exe))  
  
He continued to ignore it. He was functioning fine, what did he need it for? Suddenly his eyes widened. Blueprints, perhaps? If they were blueprints, then he could find this X guy for sure! It would make sense for Wily to give him blueprints of this place. He'd known Light, and obviously hadn't gotten along with the man.  
  
He stared down at Rock, watching as the blood slowly trickled out of the corner of the boy's mouth. "This was boring..." He sighed, about to open the application popping up in the back of his mind. "But there's some program bothering me right now, and maybe when I run it I'll get some idea of where your precious brother is." He grinned, loving the terrified look on Rock's face as those bright eyes slid closed, and the body's breathing began to slow.  
  
Rock whimpered....Dr. Light.... Oh god. They were all dead. And he'd never...meet X.  
  
His systems shut down.  
  
Zero yawned. "Well, that's over with. Now...." He let the program run. As the virus in his programming was opened, Zero stared into nothing for a full minute, then his eyes closed and he collapsed backwards, sliding off the desk and onto the floor. Shit shit shit, what was happening to his processes, he couldn't move, thought grew more difficult, he couldn't go into hibernation now-!  
  
The lab was very quiet and very empty.  
  
--------------------- ((Many years later)) ---------------------  
  
He.....was bored. There was nobody to fight...there were no women to hit on at the immediate moment...the day had just generally sucked....and he'd had one of those scary-as-fuck dreams again. Zero scowled at his coffee. Stupid fucking dreams. No truth behind them and they still made him sick to his stomach and want to throttle himself. He took a sip, leaning way back in his chair, and tried not to think about his hands coated in all that damn blood... he shuddered slightly, concentrating instead on the silence of the empty lounge. Maybe he'd go get some food later. They'd had sushi of all things in the mess hall. He hated sushi...  
  
"Excuse me...sir?"  
  
Zero blinked, but didn't turn around. "Yeah?"  
  
"Well... See... I'm kind of new here... and I'm lost. I was wondering if you could help me find my way?" A not entirely unattractive young male – he was kind of hot, actually... - sat down beside him, resting his cheeks in his hands. "I've already circled you four times." He smiled gently, and Zero found himself unable to ignore him longer. "I'd really appreciate it." He handed his information over to Zero, who skimmed through it. Hm. The guy was in his unit. Typical; Send the one with no sense of direction Zero's way.  
  
"You're in my unit." He stated blandly, memory of his dream still fresh in mind. "Come on. I'll take you to your quarters, and then I'll give you a quick tour so we don't have to do this again." The boy seemed to shrink at his words, and he gave him a friendly push. "I'm Zero, your field commander. What's your name?" He got a smile in return for his question, the smaller reploid happy to have someone to talk with.  
  
"My name's X!" He stated happily. "Nice to meet you!"  
  
Zero stared at him. X? As in Rockman X? The father of all reploids... Zero found himself wondering vaguely if this was him. He didn't want to seem rude, or nosy, however, so he kept himself from asking. It was his own business, really. For the next few weeks, his name was going to be 'rookie' anyway. "X, hm? As in Sex?" He laughed, seeing X slowly begin to turn red. "Hey, if we line up three of you, we have a porno!" He pushed further.  
  
"E.... Excuse me?!" X exclaimed, cheeks flaming. Who was this guy? What kind of a commander talked to a unit member like that after knowing him for all of three minutes?? He smiled softly, however. There was something... comforting about his presence, and soon he found himself relaxed and joking with his new friend.  
  
----------------- Years later.... -----------------  
  
Dynamo weeded his way through underground chambers, one after another. He was on a mission for Cain, and damn the old fart had better pay him well. He made a face as he stepped in something black and oily, then paused, seeing a broken robot lying in the pool of it. After a careful inspection of both it and another robot some 30 feet away, he deemed them useless and moved on.  
  
And so it went on, room after room, finding more and more junk, until finally he happened upon a little robot which seemed to have sustained relatively little damage. "I am so getting triple my rate for this!" He exclaimed cheerily, and he pulled the small boy-in serious need of repair- out from under the lab table. Throwing him over his back- He was already broken anyway- he made his way toward the surface, eager to get back to his favourite pastime of tormenting X and Zero. The boy looked a little like X; he bet his tormentee would get a kick out of that. Maybe he could forget Cain altogether and sell him to X to keep as a pet. As if the little bastard would give him money for such a rare commodity. Poor Dynamo was so unappreciated.  
  
Ah well, he could dwell on this later. Time to bring the little guy home.  
  
--------------  
  
Ending Author's Notes: Yes, that's the end. Yeah, there is a sequel, but we were really fucked up in the head and, uh..... Dynamo/Rock. XD;;; Kill us, please. o.o; You really don't wanna see that fic. *nods*  
  
Hope you enjoyed! Review because we worked hard on this and reviews make happy! 


End file.
